THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

GIFT  OF 
Kate  Gtordon  Moore 


a.— 


SCOTTISH    NATIONALITY 

AND    OTHER    PAPERS. 


MOHRISON    AND  OIBB,    EDINBURGH, 

PRINTERS   TO    HER    MAJESTY'S   STATIONERY   OFFICE. 


SCOTTISH    NATIONALITY 


an^  otbcr  papers. 


BY    THE    LATE 


Eev.    JOHX    KEE,   D.D., 

AUTHOR   OF    'the   PSALMS    IN   HISTORY   AND    BIOURAPHY, 
'  SERMONS,'   ETC. 


NEW  YORK: 

ROBERT  CARTER  &     BROTHERS, 

530  Broadway. 


DA 


PR'EFACE. 


The  following  papers,  from  the  pen  of  the  late  Dr. 
John  Ker,  are  chiefly  reprints ;  one  article  only,  the 
'  Canadian  Letters,'  appears  for  the  first  time.  As 
many  of  the  papers  cannot  now  be  obtained,  it  has 
been  judged  advisable  to  issue  them  in  this  collected 
form. 

At  a  time  when  our  Scottish  nationality  is  develop- 
ing fresh  life,  and  is  showing  a  power  to  conserve  all 
that  is  best  in  the  past  while  laying  deep  its  founda- 
tions for  progress  in  the  future,  it  is  thought  that  the 
article  bearing  this  title  has  not  inappropriately  been 
placed  first.  The  variety  of  subjects  contained  in  the 
other  papers  will  testify  to  the  fact  that  the  author, 
though  a  true  patriot,  was  as  broad  in  his  sympathies 
as  he  was  deep  in  his  affections. 

892357 


VI 


PREFACE. 


Best  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  C.  L.  Wright  (Glasgow), 
Mr.  James  Gemmell  (Edinburgh),  and  Messrs.  W. 
Isbister  &  Co.  (London),  for  permission  to  reprint 
the  papers  respectively  published  by  them;  and  to 
Senator  Boyd,  a  distinguished  member  of  the  Canadian 
Parliament,  for  Notes  appended  to  the  'Canadian 
Letters.' 


The  Hermitage,  Murratfield, 
Edinburgh,  March  15,  1887. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

SCOTTISH  NATIONALITY, 1 

JOHN  KNOX, .         23 

THE  EEVOCATION  OF  THE  EDICT  OF  NANTES,  .         36 

THE  ERSKINES:  EBENEZER  AND  RALPH,         .  .         64 

EARLY  HISTORY  OF  GLASGOW,    .  .  .  .109 

A  DAY  IN  THE  UPPER  WARD  OF  CLYDESDALE,         .       144 

CANADIAN  LETTERS 160 

REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D.,  218 
THE  REV.  W.  B.  ROBERTSON,  D.D.,         .  .  .239 


SCOTTISH  NATIONALITY.' 

These  reprints  belong  to  a  period  of  our  history  which 
marks  very  strongly  the  character  of  the  people,  and 
which  has  done  much  to  fix  it;  and  it  may  not  be  out 
of  place,  in  this  Introduction,  to  make  some  remarks 
on  Scottish  Nationality,  as  to  how  it  took  its  rise  and 
came  to  be  what  it  is,  both  socially  and  religiously. 

"While  we  believe  in  an  overruling  guidance  which 
divides  to  the  nations  their  inheritance,  and  moulds 
their  character,  we  can  see  that  it  makes  use  of  means 
to  gain  the  result.  The  features  of  the  country  have, 
no  doubt,  had  their  influence.  The  brown  moorlands 
and  misty  hills  are  in  harmony  with  the  grave,  and 
sometimes  sombre,  temperament  of  the  people ;  and 
the  sweet  romantic  dells  and  hidden  nooks  of  beauty 
that  surprise  one,  ever  and  again,  in  the  midst  of  the 
barest  stretches,  are  reflected  in  the  tenderness  and 
picturesqueness  of  the  national  lyrics,  and  in  the 
latent  poetry  which  breaks  the  hard  surface  of  prevail- 

^  Written  as  an  Introiluction  to  Miss  Jean  L.  Watson's  Lives  of 
Peden  and  Renvklc  (James  Geniniell,  Kdiubiirgli),  in  wliieh  reprints 
are  given  of  some  of  the  .sermons  and  letters  of  these  worthies. 


2  SCO  TTISH  NA  TIONALITY. 

ing  reserve  among  the  country  population,  wherever 
they  are  found  in  their  old  simplicity.  Yet  it  is  easy 
to  make  too  much  of  this.  The  magnificent  scenery 
of  Switzerland  has  produced  no  great  poet,  no  outbreak 
of  song  and  romance,  even  equal  to  what  has  come 
from  the  flats  of  the  Xetherlands  and  the  saudy 
downs  of  Denmark. 

The  mixture  of  races  that  has  gone  to  form  the 
Scottish  people  might  be  made  use  of  to  account  for 
many  of  their  characteristics ;  but  here,  too,  it  is 
possible  to  exaggerate.  Some  generalizing  historians, 
for  example,  have  laid  it  down  as  a  rule  that  the 
Teutonic  nations  must  necessarily  be  Protestant,  and 
the  Celtic,  Eoman  Catholic  ;  but  the  reverse  might  be 
argued  as  plausibly.  Scotland,  which  is  more  Celtic 
than  Enoland,  is  more  intenselv  Protestant,  and  no 
part  of  it  more  markedly  so  than  that  which  contains 
the  pure  Celtic  element.  It  was  the  Saxon  Wilfrid, 
and,  later,  the  English  Margaret,  Queen  of  Malcolm 
Canmore,  who  helped  to  supersede  the  simpler  system 
of  the  Culdees  by  the  government  and  ritual  of  Piome. 
If  the  Celts  of  Ireland  have  l)ecome  the  ardent 
retainers  of  the  Papal  chair,  the  Celts  of  Wales,  a 
kindred  branch  of  the  same  great  stock,  have  shaken 
off  its  influence  more  thoroughly  than  their  English 
neighbours ;  and  if  Brittany  is  devoted  to  the  Mass, 
nowhere,  in  England  proper,  is  there  a  population 
more  hostile  to  it  than  their  kinsmen  of  Armoric 
blood  in  Cornwall.      The  truth  is   that    many  of  these 


SCOTTISH  NATIONALITY.  3 

generalizations  are  based  upon  selecting  half  the  facts. 
The  two  districts  in  Scotland  that  stood  most  sternly 
to  the  Covenanted  cause  were  probably  Galloway  and 
Fife — the  one  of  Celtic  race,  the  other  of  Teutonic. 
There  may  be  a  portion  of  truth  in  the  theory  tliat 
the  '  very  fervid  genius '  of  the  Scots,  spoken  of  by 
Buchanan,  comes  from  the  Celtic  subsoil  in  the 
nation,  and  that  the  stubborn  perseverance,  the  cool 
determination,  is  from  Scandinavia, — lianie  fusing  iron, 
— but  even  to  this  many  exceptions  would  need  to  be 
taken.  The  fiery  Knox  came  from  the  Saxon  Lothians ; 
the  calm,  scholarly  Buchanan  from  the  Highland 
border ;  and,  in  later  times,  the  Celtic  Mackintosb, 
with  his  philosophic  balance,  is  a  marked  contrast  to 
the  lurid  genius  of  Carlyle.  On  the  whole,  while 
natural  scenery  and  blood  have  their  influence  on 
national  character,  there  is  an  agency  more  powerful 
than  either — that  of  history.  The  determining  factor 
in  the  sphere  of  humanity  is  not  materialistic,  but  a 
free  personality,  working  under  the  arrangements  of 
a  Divine  Providence. 

In  the  dawn  of  history,  the  country  we  inhabit  was 
on  the  remotest  verge  of  the  known  world.  AVlien 
the  conquering  Eomans  entered  the  island,  those  who 
were  not  disposed  to  submit  were  driven  northward, 
and  forced  to  stand  at  bay.  "With  their  back  to  the 
sea,  and  their  home  among  the  hills,  the  first  rudi- 
ments of  character  began,  and  the  historian  Tacitus 
has  traced  tlic  outlines  of  it.     The  walls   of   Hadrian 


4  SCOTTISH  NATIONALITY. 

and  Antoninus,  built  to  hold  the  unsubdued  races  in 
check,  are  the  still-existing  witnesses.  It  was  like  air 
compacted  into  a  power  of  resistance  by  force  of 
pressure,  and  the  national  spirit  of  antipathy  to 
foreign  domination  was  probably  laid  in  that  first 
struggle.  Once  begun,  successive  contests  came  to 
strengthen  it.  The  Saxon,  the  Danish,  the  Norman 
invasions  overflowed  the  southern  part  of  the  island, 
but  failed  in  securing  any  general  or  permanent  hold 
upon  the  North.  All  these  elements  entered  the  land, 
and  champed  and  elevated  the  social  condition  of  the 
people  ;  but  they  came  as  friendly  guests.  The  efforts 
which  they  frequently  made  to  gain  a  lodgment  by  the 
armed  hand,  and  their  failure,  confirmed  the  obstinate 
antipathy  to  foreign  rule.  The  change  of  the  old 
Celtic  tongue  into  the  Saxon  of  the  Lowlands,  and  the 
entrance  of  the  Norman  feudalism,  were  accomplished 
peacefully,  under  the  rule  of  native  monarchs.  These 
are  facts  entirely  untouched  by  the  monkish  legends 
of  over-lordship  on  the  jmrt  of  the  English  kings 
insisted  on  by  Palgrave  and  Ereeman. 

These  events  in  the  dim  porch  of  history  were  a 
preparation  for  the  bitter  and  decisive  struggle  which 
made  Scotland  a  nation,  and  put  one  conscious  heart 
and  will  into  its  separate  races.  This  struggle  was 
the  war  for  Scottish  independence,  under  Wallace  and 
Bruce,  against  the  Anglo-Norman  domination  attempted 
by  the  Edwards.  It  was,  above  all,  the  spirit  formed 
by  Wallace,  and  the  loving  memory  of   his  name  and 


SCO TTISH  NA  TIONALIT\.  5 

self-devotion,  whicli  began  the  nationality  that  has 
continued  from  that  time  to  this,  in  the  varied  forms 
of  political,  religious,  and  literary  life.  He  was  a  man 
of  the  people,  and,  so  far  as  can  be  inferred,  neither 
Saxon  nor  Norman,  but  of  the  old  native  race  ;  no 
savage  bandit,  nor  mere  chivalrous  swordsman,  but 
possessed  of  heart  and  brain,  as  well  as  force  and 
courage — a  general  and  a  statesman.  No  less  a  man 
could  have  left  the  impress  he  did  on  the  history  of 
his  country,  and  all  the  traces  we  have  of  him  in 
authentic  documents  bear  out  this  view.  We  are  far 
enough  now  from  the  time  when  it  was  customary  to 
speak  of  our  '  auld  enemies  of  England  '  to  be  able  to 
estimate  what  the  success  of  that  stru^ole  did  for 
England  as  well  as  for  Scotland — how  it  prepared  the 
way  for  an  equal  and  honourable  union,  wliich  has  left 
no  grudge,  which  has  made  England  strong  in  the 
attachment  of  tlic  old  Xorthern  Kingdom,  while  it  has 
made  the  British  Empire  richer  by  all  the  contribu- 
tions of  literature  and  social  character  which  a  separate 
history  has  enabled  Scotland  to  give.  It  has  been  a 
barrier  to  the  spread  of  that  system  of  centralization 
which  is  not  only  dangerous  to  liberty,  but  detrimental 
to  healthy  progress,  and  yet  it  has  not  weakened  the 
United  Kingdom  by  any  divided  allegiance.  A  great 
people  is  stronger,  and  more  permanently  fertile,  from 
the  variety  of  its  component  parts,  and  from  the 
friendly  play  of  the  electric  currents  that  have  their 
origin  in  a  diversity  that  is  held  in  friendship.     Some 


6  SCO  TTISH  NA  TIONAL ITY. 

flippant  London  journalists,  and  a  few  denationalized 
Scotchmen  who  cultivate  their  good  opinion,  may 
express  the  belief  that  it  would  have  been  better  if 
the  Edwards  had  succeeded ;  but  candid  and  liberal 
Englishmen  now  look  on  the  result  at  Bannockburn 
as  a  benefit  to  England  itself,  while  Scotsmen,  on 
their  part,  can  share  in  their  admiration  of  the  stout 
yeomen  who  conquered,  though  with  little  fruit,  at 
Cressy  and  Poictiers. 

These  truths  are  coming  to  be  admitted,  but  less 
attention  has  been  bestowed  on  the  bearing  which 
tliis  struggle  had  on  the  religious  history  of  Scotland. 
It  was  the  preservation  of  its  independence  that  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  development  of  the  Eeforma- 
tion  principles  in  the  form  they  have  taken  in  the 
Northern  Kingdom.  The  two  periods  are  in  close, 
one  may  say  logical,  connection,  and  the  men  who 
filled  them  had  the  same  spirit  and  sinew.  AVallace 
made  a  nation  and  Knox  a  people.  The  one  secured 
the  soil  on  which  the  other  built  up  the  church  polity, 
and  in  which  he  implanted  the  religious  principles 
that  have  since  been  associated  with  the  name  of 
Scotland  wherever  it  is  known,  and  that  have  given 
it  a  place  in  the  world  out  of  all  proportion  to  its 
extent,  or  population,  or  material  resources.  But  for 
the  war  for  national  independence,  the  battle  for 
spiritual  freedom  would  have  been  fought  at  a  great 
disadvantage,  and  we  should  now  have  been  among 
those  in  England  who   are  struirgling  with  an  over- 


SCOTTISH  NATIONALITY.  •} 

mastering  prelatic  establishment  which  denies  to  all 
outside  of  it  the  most  common  rights  of  citizenship, 
and  sends  off  its  recruits  in  increasing  numbers  to  the 
Church  of  liome.  Any  one  who  knows  how  our  fore- 
fathers defied  the  Papal  interdict  in  1317,  when  it  was 
used  against  their  just  rights,  or  who  has  read  the 
memorable  letter  of  the  barons  to  the  Pope,  will  discern 
the  same  spirit  which  came  out  in  the  Solemn  League 
and  Covenant,  when  the  "Word  of  God  had  opened  to 
the  Commons  of  Scotland  the  conception  of  a  higher 
freedom  than  had  been  fought  out,  centuries  before, 
by  their  forefathers  on  many  a  bloody  field.  The  true 
inheritors  of  the  old  Scottish  chivalry,  who  held  out  on 
the  grim  edge  of  despair  till  native  endurance  con- 
quered, were  the  Camerons  and  Cargills,  who  wandered 
in  the  very  haunts  of  Ayrshire  and  the  Torwood  where 
Wallace  had  his  retreats ;  and  the  Lauderdales  and 
Piotheses,  the  Middletons  and  Claverhouses,  were  the 
successors  of  the  recreant  nobles  who  betrayed  their 
country  and  its  liberty  to  the  foreigner  and  the  tyrant. 
There  are,  of  course,  men  among  us  who  regret  the 
turn  that  history  then  took, — the  followers  of  Laud 
and  Strafford  cannot  well  do  otherwise, — but  those  who 
set  some  value  on  the  great  principles  of  civil  and 
religious  freedom  can  never  regard  the  men  of  the 
Scottish  Eeformation  but  with  admiration  and  grati- 
tude. It  was  Knox,  as  Carlyle  and  Froude  have 
shown,  who  saved  England  from  the  league  against 
her,  headed  by  Philip  II. ;  it  was  the  attitude  of  the 


8  SCO  TTISH  NA  TIONALITY. 

Covenanters  which  roused  the  opposition  of  the  Long 
Parliament  to  the  arbitrary  schemes  of  Charles  I. ;  and 
it  was  the  long-drawn-out  agony  of  twenty-eight  years 
of  suffering  in  Scotland  that  made  the  people  of 
England  so  weary  of  the  profligate  despotism  of  the  last 
of  the  Stuarts,  and  so  ready  to  welcome  the  arrival  of 
William  III.  When  one  remembers  how  the  relifdon 
of  Scotland  has  aided  the  noble  English  Noncon- 
formists, and  even  the  Evangelical  party  in  the  Church 
of  England,  how  it  has  given  to  the  British  Govern- 
ment in  Ireland  its  one  loyal  foothold,  how  it  has  told 
upon  the  United  States  and  our  Colonies,  with  their 
many  thousands  of  Presbyterian  churches,  we  begin 
to  feel  the  importance  of  tlie  separate  citadel  that  was 
maintained  in  Scotland,  first  for  national,  and  then  for 
spiritual  independence.  Such  considerations  may,  at 
least,  be  allowed  to  have  some  weight  with  those  of  us 
to  whom  the  principles  of  freedom,  the  rights  of  the 
Christian  people,  and  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel  of 
the  Xew  Testament,  are  more  interesting  than  the 
virtue  of  apostolical  succession,  the  difference  between 
copes  and  chasubles,  and  the  grand  distinction  of 
lighted  or  unlighted  candles  upon  the  altar. 

What  gave  the  Scottish  Peformation  its  character, 
and  what  has  marked  it  throughout  is,  that  it  was, 
and  is,  a  movement  of  the  people.  The  sympathies  of 
the  men  who  were  its  great  leaders,  and  the  essence  of 
its  truths,  carried  it  straight  to  the  popular  heart.  It 
took  men  at   once  to  the  AVord  of    God,  and  taught 


SCO  TTISH  NA  TIONAL  /TV.  9 

them  to  read  their  rights  as  Christians  and  citizens, 
with  a  definite  place  in  the  Church  and  the  Common- 
wealth, and  its  effect  was  marvellous  in  the  new  spirit 
it  breathed  into  the  old,  rude  clay  of  the  Scottish 
nation.  But  the  appeal  to  the  people  was  in  the 
circumstances  a  matter  of  necessity.  The  Eeformation 
had  to  meet  the  frown  of  royalty  in  Mary  of  Guise, 
her  daughter,  and  her  grandson,  and  was  compelled  to 
speak  God's  Word  to  kings  without  fear.  The  nobles 
at  first  aided  the  cause, — some,  whose  names  shine  out 
with  honour,  from  conviction,  but  many  more  from  a 
love  of  the  broad  lands  of  the  old  Church,  and,  when 
the  booty  was  secured,  and  persecution  arose  because 
of  the  Word,  they  soon  became  offended.  The  seals  of 
most  of  those  who  signed  the  Covenant  in  Greyfriars 
Churchyard  are  found,  after  the  Eestoration,  attached 
to  the  document  which  denounces  pains  and  penalties 
on  all  who  should  remain  faithful  to  it.  In  the  face 
of  these  things,  the  Eeformers  had  to  fall  back  upon 
the  people  for  support,  to  enlighten  and  animate  them, 
to  impress  on  them  what  one  of  themselves  has  called 
a  'great  awe  of  God'  against  the  fear  of  man. 
Happily  they  were  allowed  breathing  time  for  tliis. 
The  old  woe  to  '  the  land  whose  king  is  a  child '  was 
reversed,  for  it  was  the  minority,  first  of  Mary,  and 
then  of  James  YL,  that  gave  the  opportunity.  While 
the  Hamiltons  and  Mars  and  Mortons  were  contending 
fiercely  for  place  and  spoil,  there  were  men  busy  in 
the   towns  and   villages,  and  remotest  rural    districts. 


I  o  SCO  TTISH  NA  TIONALITY. 

preaching  the  newly-recovered  Gospel  with  its  creative 
power.     Beneath  the  great  names  of  Knox  and  Mehdlle 
there   are   many,  knoM'n   to   the   student   of   Scottish 
Church    History,  who,  from   Eoss- shire  to  Galloway, 
were  the  lights  of  their  own  neighbourhood,  and  whose 
memories,  without  canonization,  are  still   hallowed  in 
the  breasts  of   the   people.      They  succeeded  so  well 
that,  when  the  day  of  trial  came,  the  humblest  ranks 
stood  firm  amid  the  defection  of  those  whom  they  had 
been  accustomed  to  follow  as  their  natural   leaders  ; 
and  they  could  neither  be  broken  by  persecution  nor 
beguiled    by    snares.      The    manner    in    which    plain 
countrymen  argued  from  the  New  Testament  struck 
the  Episcopalian  historian,  Burnet,  when  he  met  the 
people  of  the  western  shires  to  discuss  a  plan  for  the 
settlement  of  the  Church.     '  The  Episcopal  clergy,'  he 
says,  'who  were  yet  in  the  country,  could  not  argue 
much  for   anything,  and   would   not   at   all   argue  in 
favour  of  a  proposition  that  they  hated.     The  people 
of  the  country  came  generally  to  hear  us,  though  not 
in  cfreat  crowds.      We  were  indeed  amazed  to  see  a 
poor  commonalty  so  capable  to   argue  upon  points  of 
government,  and  on  the  bounds  to  be  set  to  the  power 
of   princes   in   matters   of   religion.       Upon   all   these 
topics  they  had  texts  of  Scripture  at  hand,  and  were 
ready  with  their  answers  to  anything  that  was  said  to 
them.     This  measure  of  knowledge  was  spread  even 
among  the  meanest  of  them,  their  cottagers  and  their 
servants.'     We  may  give  here  the  dying  testimony  of 


SCOTTISH  NATIONALITY.  ii 

one  of  these  cottagers,  John  Clyde,  as  an  example  of 
the  spirit  which  their  religion  had  breathed  into  many 
of  the  poor  commonalty  of  Scotland  at  that  time :  '  I 
bless  the  Lord  for  keeping  me  straight,  I  desire  to 
speak  it  to  the  commendation  of  free  grace,  and  this  I 
am  speaking  from  my  own  experience,  that  there  arc 
none  who  will  lippen  (trust)  to  God,  and  depend  upon 
Him  for  direction,  but  they  shall  be  keeped  straight 
and  right ;  but  to  be  promised  to  be  kept  from  tribula- 
tion, that  is  not  in  the  bargain,  for  He  hath  said  that 
through  much  tribulation  we  must  enter  the  Kingdom. 
He  hath  promised  to  be  with  us  in  it,  and  what  needs 
more  ?  I  bless  the  Lord  for  keeping  of  me  to  this 
very  hour;  for  little  would  I  have  thought  a  twelve- 
month since  that  the  Lord  woidd  have  taken  a  poor 
ploughman  lad,  and  have  honoured  me  so  highly,  as  to 
have  made  me  first  appear  for  Him,  and  then  keep  me 
straight,  and  now  hath  keeped  me  to  this  very  hour  to 
lay  down  my  life  for  Him.'  At  the  ladder  foot  he 
said  to  his  l)rother :  '  AVeep  not  for  me,  brother,  but 
weep  for  yourself  and  the  poor  land,  and  seek  God, 
and  make  Him  sure  for  yourself,  and  He  shall  be 
better  to  you  than  ten  brethren.  Xow,  farewell  all 
friends  and  relations,  farewell  brother,  sister,  and 
mother  ;  and  welcome  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  into  thy 
hands  I  commit  my  spirit.'  And,  lifting  up  the 
napkin  off  his  face,  he  said  :  '  Dear  friends,  be  not 
discouracred  because  of  the  cross,  nor  at  this  ve  sec  in 
me,  and   you  shall  see  no  more.'      One  cannot   help 


12  SCO TTISH  NA  TIONALI TV. 

thinking  of  the  mean  and  selfish  tyrant  who  then  sat 
on  the  throne,  with  his  saying  that  '  Presbyterianism 
is  not  the  religion  of  a  gentleman,'  when  we  see  the 
nobility  of  soul  it  could  bestow  on  one  of  the  poorest 
of  his  subjects.  Compare  this  life  and  death  with 
that  of  him  who  spent  the  pensions  of  Louis  XIV.  on 
his  infamous  pleasures,  and  sought  to  make  atone- 
ment with  the  Jesuits'  wafer  when  in  extremis.  It 
was  this  spirit,  diffused  among  numbers  of  the  people, 
that  brought  them  out  victorious  from  a  struggle  of 
more  than  a  hundred  years  for  their  religion.  '  Let 
me  make  the  songs  of  a  country,'  Fletcher  of  Saltoun, 
or  some  one  before  him,  has  said,  '  and  I  care  not  who 
makes  its  laws.'  These  men  were  too  busy  or  too 
earnest  to  make  many  songs,  and  the  poetry  of  the 
time  that  has  come  down  to  us  is  from  another  school ; 
but  the  psalm  has  vanquished  the  song,  and  given  us 
the  laws  under  which  we  live. 

It  would  be  too  long  to  follow  the  history  of 
Scottish  Christianity  from  that  time  till  now,  and  its 
course  is  known  to  most.  The  principle  of  the  New 
Testament,  that  there  is  no  sacerdotal  class  in  the 
Church  of  Christ,  but  that  all  its  members  belong  to 
the  priesthood,  and  have  a  right  to  share  in  the 
administration,  has  asserted  itself  in  the  dreariest 
times  of  stagnation.  Its  mode  of  service,  in  which 
instruction  from  the  Bible  is  meant  to  be  a  prominent 
feature,  has  been  a  constant  stimulus  to  the  intellect 
of   tlie   hearers,  and    a   school  of   thought   about   the 


SCOTTISH  NA  TIONALITY.  1 3 

highest  and  most  interesting  of  all  subjects.  The 
saying  of  a  German,  that  '  theology  is  the  metaphysics 
of  the  people,'  is  largely  true  of  Scotland.  The  very 
divisions  that  have  taken  place  in  the  history  of  the 
Church,  much  as  they  are  to  be  regretted  otherwise, 
have  had  the  effect  of  stirring  inquiry.  Every  seces- 
sion had  to  justify  itself  in  the  forum  of  the  popular 
conscience  from  the  Word  of  God.  It  has  set  men  to 
discuss,  to  take  up  their  ground  on  reasons  of  con- 
vincement,  and  to  be  able  to  defend  their  position 
against  all  comers.  It  must  be  admitted  that  this, 
like  everything  else,  has  not  escaped  its  abuse.  It  has 
made  numbers  of  its  adherents  hard  -  headed  and 
opinionative,  ready  to  split  hairs  and  mistake  points 
for  principles ;  but  it  has  made  the  people,  as  a  whole, 
intelligent,  self-reliant,  and  energetic,  fitted  to  stand 
their  own  in  fields  of  enterprise,  at  home  or  abroad, 
and  ready  to  make  sacrifices  for  what  they  believe  to 
be  the  cause  of  God's  truth  and  man's  freedom,  that 
will  compare  with  those  of  any  Church  in  the  world. 
Buckle  has  asserted  that  the  two  most  priest-ridden 
countries  in  Europe  are  Spain  and  Scotland.  It  is 
true  that  in  both  the  mass  of  the  people  have  been 
marked  by  strong  attachment  to  one  prevailing  form 
of  faith ;  but  a  philosophical  historian  might  have 
observed  that,  in  the  one  case,  it  is  accompanied  with 
the  proscription  of  thought,  in  the  other,  with  the  con- 
stant stimulus  and  exercise  of  it :  in  the  one  case,  the 
people  are  excluded  from  all  share  in  the  government 


1 4  SCO TTISH  NA  TIONALITY. 

of  tlie  Church  ;  in  the  other,  the  government  is  fully  in 
their  hands.  Hence  the  different  spirit  of  the  two 
countries,  and  the  fact  that,  while  the  people  of  Scot- 
land are  warmly  attached  to  their  ministers,  they 
would  resent  any  attempt  to  interfere  with  their 
political  judgments,  or  to  deal  with  them  in  any  way 
beyond  what  can  be  justified  by  the  open  charter  to 
which  all  alike  have  access — the  Word  of  God.  Mr. 
Buckle,  too,  might  have  remembered  his  own  remark, 
made  we  believe  also  by  liemusat,  that,  wherever  it 
has  gone,  in  Prance,  Switzerland,  Holland,  Britain, 
and  America,  the  Calvinistic  faith  has  shown  itself 
the  unfailing  friend  of  constitutional  liberty.  His- 
torians have  found  it  difficult  to  account  for  this, 
while  they  admit  its  truth.  AVc  believe  it  has  arisen 
not  merely  from  the  form  of  government  with  which  it 
has  linked  itself,  one  of  ordered  freedom,  but  from  the 
fact  that  it  has  always  carried  its  appeal  past  human 
authority  in  religion  to  the  Word  of  God ;  that  it  has 
taught  men  to  think  for  themselves  as  in  his  sight, 
and  to  seek  that  personal  relation  to  Him  which 
makes  them  free  with  the  liberty  of  his  children.  It 
proclaims  the  grand  Divine  equality,  '  One  is  your 
Master,  even  Christ,  and  all  ye  are  brethren,'  out  of 
which  are  built  up  again  service,  and  law,  and  comely 
order  in  Church  and  State,  but  now  tempered  by  the 
action  of  reason  and  love.  It  may  be  said  that  this  is 
simply  Christianity,  and  so  it  is  ;  but  there  are  forms 
of  Christianity  more  or  less  pronounced,  and,  while  we 


SCOTTISH  NA  TIONALITY.  1 5 

have  great  resi:)ect  for  the  contributions  that  other 
forms  have  brought  in  their  own  way,  we  believe  that 
the  I'uritans  of  Engiand,  old  and  new,  and  the  Presby- 
tcriaus  of  Scotland  have,  with  all  their  defects,  led  the 
van  in  tlie  cause  of  human  freedom. 

The  question  may  be  put :  Is  Presbyterianism  likely 
to  maintain  its  hold  of  the  Scottish  jDeople  ?  So  far  as 
can  ])e  judged,  the  different  Churches  that  represent  it 
were  never  more  active  in  efibrts  at  extension,  and  in 
the  cultivation  of  Christian  thought  and  work,  than 
they  are  at  present.  They  contain  four-fifths  of  the 
professed  Christianity  of  the  country  ;  and,  while  there 
are  some  questions  that  have  to  be  settled  among  them, 
there  is  a  growing  feeling  of  brotherhood,  and  tokens 
of  a  period  coming  when  the  divisions  of  past  genera- 
tions are  to  l)e  repaired.  Tlie  course  of  events  will 
probably  settle,  ere  very  long,  whether  this  is  to  be  on 
the  old  lines  of  a  National  Establishment,  or  on  the 
principle  enunciated  by  Cargill  for  posterity,  '  that  they 
may  begin  where  we  end.'  On  this  we  shall  not 
enter.  But  such  a  union  is  desirable  for  two  great 
reasons  —  that  there  may  be  more  combined  and 
energetic  effort  for  the  reclamation  of  the  large  numbers 
who  have  been  suffered  to  grow  up  in  ignorance  and 
vice  outside  of  all  the  Churches ;  and,  next,  for  the 
serious  study  of  the  questions  that  have  risen  in  our 
day  to  make  numbers  of  the  educated  class  assume  a 
neutral  or  half-hostile  attitude  to  our  common  Chris- 
tianity.    These  are  arduous  matters  \  but  if  we  give 


1 6  SCO  TTISH  NA  TIONALITY. 

ourselves  to  them  with  the  faith  and  courage  of  our 
forefathers,  we  shall  with  God's  help  succeed.  Things 
are  not  so  dark  as  they  must  have  looked  to  them  after 
Pentland  and  Bothwell. 

On  the  whole,  we  believe  that,  while  Scottish  Chris- 
tianity may  widen  out,  as  it  has  already  done,  it  will 
maintain  the  same  ^reat  centres.  It  will  not  forsake 
the  vital  truth  of  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified, 
thougli  it  may  make  it  prominent  and  supreme  by 
lowering  the  importance  of  minor  questions.  It  will 
not  abandon  its  old  model  of  government,  so  strong 
and  liexible,  but  it  w^ill  open  its  heart  to  all  who  love 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  will  neither  unchristianize 
nor  unchurch  them,  although  they  do  not  admit  the 
office  of  the  rulino;  elder  and  the  due  subordination  of 
Church  Courts.  It  will  cleave  to  the  freedom  and 
simplicity  of  its  mode  of  worship,  while  it  owns  as 
brethren  those  who,  from  custom  or  constitution,  can 
worship  God  more  profitably  through  fixed  forms. 
For  the  devoutness,  the  reverence,  the  gentleness  of 
Christianity  that  is  seen  in  many  of  these  last  we 
cannot  but  have  the  deepest  esteem  ;  and  we  cannot 
doubt  that  such  men  regret,  as  much  as  we  do,  the  St. 
Bartholomew's  day  of  England,  and  the  policy  of 
Sheldon  and  his  creature  Sharp.  It  is  unfortunate, 
however,  for  good  feeling  in  this  direction  that  the 
kind  of  Episcopacy  chiefly  prevalent  in  Scotland  is 
that  against  which  our  fathers  had  to  contend,  and  one 
which  is  still  too  little  disposed  to  meet  other  Churches 


SCO  TTISH  NA  TIONALITY.  1 7 

on  terms  of  Christian  equality.  When  it  pleads  that 
it  is  compelled  to  do  so  by  its  theory  of  what  a  Church 
is,  we  must  regret  the  position  of  men  whose  heart 
cannot  but  be  at  war  with  their  head,  and  we  must 
honour  all  the  more  the  spirit  of  such  men  as  the 
late  Bishop  Ewing  and  others,  in  seeking  to  grasp 
the  hands  of  fellow-Christians  over  such  \\\d\\  and 
narrow  walls.  This  situation  is  painful,  in  that  it 
cuts  off  those  who  belong  to  it  from  the  just  influence 
they  might  otherwise  exercise  on  the  national  life,  and 
from  the  aid  they  might  give  in  bridging  across  the 
chasms,  already  too  wide,  that  divide  society.  The 
nobility  of  Scotland  have  ceased  very  nnich,  with  a 
few  honourable  exceptions,  to  be  the  Scottish  nobility ; 
and  those  who  follow  them  in  the  fashion  separate 
themselves  from  a  share  in  the  most  thrilling  and 
invigorating  parts  of  the  national  history,  "\\liere  this 
position  is  adopted  on  the  conscientious  ground  that 
apostolical  succession  and  sacerdotal  virtue  in  the 
Sacraments  are  essential  to  a  Christian  Church, 
nothing  more  can  be  said  ;  where  it  is  taken  from 
taste,  it  is  a  poor  ground  in  the  midst  of  considerations 
infinitely  more  important  ;  but  where,  as  is  too  often 
the  case,  it  is  merely  to  be  in  the  style,  and  keep  aloof 
from  the  multitude,  it  is  a  hurtful  imbecility,  and 
accompanied  with  this  inconvenience,  that,  if  the  multi- 
tude should  follow,  some  other  move  will  require  to  be 
made.  But,  after  all,  the  multitude  will  not  follow. 
They  will  be  drawn  to  preachitig,  if  it  be  only  real  and 


1 8  SCO  TTISH  NA  TIONA  LITY. 

living,  more  than  to  ceremonies ;  and  before  it  can  be 
otherwise,  the  nature  of  the  Scottish  people  must  be 
made  over  again,  their  most  hallowed  associations 
destroyed,  the  most  heroic  pages  of  their  history 
blotted  out,  and  the  last  old  stone  dug  up  that  lifts  its 
head  from  the  grey  hillside  to  tell  where  martyred 
dust  is  sleeping.  A  nation's  life  is  a  continuous 
growth,  and  has  its  roots  in  the  past  that  it  may  have 
its  fruit  for  the  future.  For  larger  ends  than  belong 
even  to  Scotland,  we  must  hold  fast  what  is  native 
to  the  soil.  We  shall  do  more  for  the  British  Empire 
as  Scotsmen  than  as  mongrel  Englishmen,  and  more 
for  Christianity  as  good  Presbyterians  than  if,  from 
indifference  or  affectation,  we  let  slip  the  stimulating 
motives  that  come  from  such  an  ancestry. 

In  looking  back  upon  the  period  of  the  Second 
Eeformation  in  Scotland,  the  lives  of  Peden  and 
Eenwick  call  for  special  notice.  These  two  names  were 
once  known  to  every  child  in  Scotland,  and  traditions 
of  them  are  floating  all  over  the  south-west ;  but 
we  doubt  whether,  in  these  days  of  newspapers  and 
ma!?azines,  manv  know  more  of  them  than  the  mere 
names,  or  what  is  to  be  found  in  the  Scots  Worthies 
— a  manual  of  which  we  would  speak  with  all 
respect.  There  is  something  weird  about  the  history 
of  Alexander  Peden.  He  w^as  the  John  the  Baptist  of 
the  Scottish  Covenant.  His  lonely  life  for  years,  his 
wild  hiding-places,  his  marvellous  escapes,  the  timely 
descent  of  the  mist,  or  '  the  lap  of  the  Lord's  cloak,' 


SCOTTISH  NATIONALITY.  19 

as  he  called  it,  to  screen  him  from  his  persecutors,  the 
keen  insight  of  his  snyings,  which  amounted  to  fore- 
sight, his  burial  beneath  the  gallows  at  Cumnock  and 
the  change  of  the  place  thereby  to  a  God's  acre,  have 
thrown  an  air  of  mystery  round  his  memory  in  the 
minds  of  the  people.  The  sermons  that  remain  arc 
very  fragmentary,  like  the  panting  words  of  a  man  in 
the  intervals  of  flight,  and  are  no  doubt,  besides,  very 
imperfectly  reported  to  us.  There  was  no  shorthand 
writer  on  the  spot ;  and  sometimes  the  more  eccentric 
points  would  be  best  remembered.  The  stern  Old 
Testament  spirit  comes  out  in  Peden  more  than  in 
any  other  of  the  time  ;  and,  if  the  fierceness  occasionally 
startles  us,  we  must  think  of  the  old  man  with  the 
bloody  dragoons  of  Claverhouse  on  his  trail,  a  tyran- 
nical voluptuary  on  the  throne,  and  the  cause  of  God, 
for  which  he  was  very  jealous,  trampled  in  the  mire. 
Charity  is  good ;  yet,  with  most  men,  it  needs  time 
for  reflection,  and  a  little  sunshine.  But  there  is  a 
homely  picturesqueness  about  many  of  his  sayings,  a 
pithy  proverbiality,  and  sometimes  a  deep  tenderness. 
'  I  think  God  has  a  mind  to  search  Jerusalem  with 
lighted  candles,  and  to  go  through  the  whole  house 
to  visit  all  your  chambers,  and  there  shall  not  be  one 
pin  within  all  your  gates  but  God  shall  know  whether 
it  is  crooked  or  even.  He  will  never  rest  till  He  be 
at  the  bottom  of  men's  hearts.  He  has  turned  out 
some  folks'  hearts  already,  and  flitted  others ;  it 
seems  He  has  a  mind  to  make  the   inside   the   outside. 


20  SCOTTISH  NATIONALITY. 

There  was  but  a  weak  wind  in  former  trials,  and 
therefore  much  chaff  was  sheltered  and  hid  amongst 
corn ;  but  God  now  has  raised  a  strong  wind,  and  yet 
Christ's  own  cannot  be  driven  away.  He  will  not 
lose  one  hair  of  his  people's  heads  ;  He  knows  them 
all  by  head-mark.  Oh,  if  our  hearts  and  love  were 
blazing  after  Him,  we  would  rather  choose  to  die 
believing  than  to  sin  by  compliance  ! '  Or  again  : 
'  Death  and  destruction  shall  be  written  with  broad 
letters  on  our  Lord's  standard  ;  a  look  of  Him  shall 
be  a  dead  stroke  to  any  that  runs  in  his  gate.  It  is 
best  for  you  to  keep  within  the  shadow  of  God's  ways, 
to  cast  Christ's  cloak  over  your  head  until  you  hear 
Him  say,  "  The  brunt  of  the  battle  is  over,  and  the 
shower  is  slacked."  And  I  am  confident  the  fairest 
plan  to  check  the  way  is  to  spiel  (climb)  out  of  God's 
gate,  and  keep  witliin  the  doors  till  the  violence  of 
the  storm  be  gone,  and  begin  to  ebb,  which  is  not  yet 
full  tide.  Yet  Christ  deals  tenderly  with  young  plants, 
and  waters  them  oft ;  but  they  go  back.  Be  praiseful 
and  love  not  life  for  the  seeking.'  It  is  evident  that 
God  and  eternity  were  intense  realities  to  these  men. 

If  Peden  was  the  John  the  Baptist  of  the  Covenant, 
Eenwick  was  John  the  Evangelist.  There  is  some- 
thing so  touching  in  his  whole  story — so  young  and 
fair,  so  gentle  and  full  of  poetry,  so  devoted  in  his 
few  brief  years,  and  so  firm  that,  when  a  word  of  com- 
pliance would  have  saved  his  life,  he  could  not  be 
induced  to  speak  it — the  last  of  the  Scottish  martyrs 


SCO  TTISH  NA  TIONALIT] '.  2 1 

falling  on  the  threshold  of  deliverance,  and  feeling 
the  air  that  came  through  the  opening  door.  Dying 
at  twenty  -  five,  exhausted  with  work  and  suffering, 
among  his  last  words  were :  '  Death  is  to  me  as  a  bed 
to  the  weary.'  And  on  the  scaffold,  in  a  pause  of  the 
beating  of  the  drums,  liis  voice  rose  clear  to  the  sky  : 
'I  shall  soon  be  above  these  clouds,  I  shall  soon  be 
above  these  clouds ;  then  shall  I  enjoy  Thee,  and 
glorify  Thee,  0  my  Father !  without  interruption,  and 
without  intermission,  for  ever  ! ' 

The  letters  of  Eenwick  remind  one  not  unfrequently 
of  those  of  Eutherford,  with  a  vein  of  melancholy 
in  them,  as  if  from  a  heart  that  felt  the  shadow  of 
an  early  death.  "We  shall  close  this  paper  with  an 
extract  from  one  addressed  to  friends  in  Holland. 

'  Now,  right  honourable,  as  to  news  here,  I  know 
that  the  Lord  is  still  increasing  his  people  in  number 
and  spiritual  strength ;  and  many  a  sacrifice  He  is 
taking  off  their  hands ;  for  there  are  not  many  days 
wherein  his  truths  are  not  sealed  with  blood,  and  that 
in  all  places,  so  that  I  think  within  a  little  there  shall 
not  be  a  moss  or  mountain  in  the  West  of  Scotland 
which  shall  not  be  flowered  with  martyrs.  Enemies 
think  themselves  satisfied  that  we  are  put  to  wander 
in  dark,  stormy  nights  through  mosses  and  mountains ; 
but  if  they  knew  how  we  were  feasted  when  others 
are  sleeping,  they  would  gnash  their  teeth  with  rage. 
Oh,  I  cannot  express  how  sweet  times  I  have  had 
when  the  curtains  of  heaven  have  been  drawn ;  when 


2  2  SCO  TTISH  NA  TIONA  LIT  V. 

the  quietness  of  all  things  in  the  silent  watches  of  the 
night  has  brought  to  my  mind  the  duty  of  admiring 
the  deep,  silent  and  inexpressible  ocean  of  joy,  wherein 
tlie  whole  family  of  the  higher  house  are  everlastingly 
drowned ;  each  star  leading  me  out  to  wonder  what 
He  must  be  who  is  the  Star  of  Jacob,  the  bright  and 
morning  star,  who  maketh  all  his  own  to  shine  as 
stars  in  the  firmament !  The  greatest  wrong  enemies 
can  do  is  to  be  instrumental  in  bringing  a  chariot  to 
carry  us  to  that  higher  house,  and  should  we  not 
think  this  the  greatest  favour  ? ' 


JOHN  KNOX} 

Joiix  Knox  was  born  at  Giffordrate  in  Haddinsjton, 
in  the  county  of  Haddington,  Scotland,  in  a.d.  1505. 
His  family  was  of  the  middle  rank,  and  he  had  the 
benefit  of  a  liberal  education.  He  learned  Latin  at 
school,  and  completed  his  studies  at  the  University  of 
Glasgow,  where  philosophy  and  theology  were  taught 
by  John  Mair  or  Major,  a  celebrated  schoolman.  He 
was  early  dissatisfied  with  the  hard  and  barren 
scholastic  method,  and  found  his  way  to  Augustine  and 
Jerome,  and  afterwards  to  the  original  Scriptures.  In 
this  spirit  he  began  to  teach  philosophy  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  St.  Andrews,  but  did  not  profess  himself  a 
Protestant  till  1542.  He  was  declared  a  heretic,  and 
his  life  was  sought ;  but  he  found  protection  among 
friends  in  the  south  of  Scotland,  and  Ijegan  to  preach 
openly  to  the  people  of  the  surrounding  districts. 

About  this  time  George  Wishart,  a  man  of  devoted 
life  and  great   eloquence,  was  burnt  at  the  stake  by 
Cardinal  Beaton,  and  the  Cardinal  was  shortly  after- 
wards put  to  death  by  some  of  his  political  enemies. 
'  Written  for  a  French  Encyclopaedia. 


24  JOHN  KNOX. 

Knox,  though  he  had  no  share  in  their  act,  was  obliged 
with  many  others  to  seek  shelter  in  the  strong  castle 
of  St.  Andrews.  After  a  siege  of  a  year  they  sur- 
rendered to  Leo  Strozzi,  who  commanded  the  Papal 
forces  for  Mary  of  Guise,  Queen  Eegent  of  Scotland, 
and  the  mother  of  Mary  Stuart.  It  was  promised  that 
they  should  be  conveyed  to  France,  and  allowed  to  go 
to  any  country  except  Scotland ;  but  the  stipulation 
was  broken,  and  Knox  with  others  was  sent  to  the 
galleys,  loaded  with  chains,  and  compelled  to  labour  at 
the  oar.  In  the  midst  of  indignities  and  cruel  suffer- 
ings, and  after  a  violent  fever  which  threatened  his 
life,  he  composed  his  treatise  on  Prayer,  which  was 
afterwards  published.  He  was  restored  to  freedom  in 
1549,  as  the  cause  of  Pome  was  considered  safe  in 
Scotland  when  the  Parliament  consented  to  the  mar- 
riage of  the  young  princess,  Mary  Stuart,  with  the 
Dauphin,  afterwards  Francis  II. 

As  soon  as  he  was  released,  Knox  passed  over  to 
England,  then  under  the  reforming  prince,  Edward  A'l., 
and  received  an  appointment  to  preach  at  Berwick, 
and  in  the  northern  counties  near  Scotland.  He 
laboured  with  much  success,  and  the  pulpits  are  still 
pointed  out  from  which  he  spoke,  as  they  are  in  his 
native  land.  The  freedom  of  his  preaching  gave 
offence  to  the  Bishox3  of  Durham,  and  he  had  to  defend 
himself  at  London.  Such,  however,  w^as  the  esteem  of 
Cranmer  for  him  that  he  had  the  offer  of  a  bishopric ; 
but   he  declined   it  from  his   inability  to  accept  the 


JOHN  KNOX.  25 

principles  of  the  Angiicau  Church.  The  death  of 
Edward  VI.  stopped  the  progress  of  the  lieformation 
in  England,  and  the  persecuting  reign  of  Mary  drove 
Knox  a  second  time  to  the  Continent.  After  wander- 
ing through  France  he  came  to  Geneva,  and  in  the 
society  of  Calvin  resumed  his  studies  with  the  ardour 
of  youth.  He  left  with  regret,  and  went  by  invitation 
to  labour  among  the  Protestant  refugees  at  Frankfort. 
The  peace  of  the  community  was  disturbed  by  some 
who  wished  to  introduce  the  English  liturgy,  and, 
though  Knox  was  sustained  by  a  large  number,  he  left 
and  returned  to  Edinburgh  in  1555.  His  object  was 
to  rally  the  friends  of  the  Eeformation  who  had  been 
scattered  and  driven  into  concealment  by  the  repressive 
measures  of  the  Queen  Eegent.  In  1556  he  brought 
about  the  first  of  the  religious  covenants  which  became 
so  marked  a  feature  in  the  history  of  Scotland.  It  was 
signed  by  a  number  of  the  nobles  and  gentlemen  at- 
tached to  the  Eeformation,  and  Knox  passed  from  place 
to  place,  preaching  and  administering  the  sacrament 
of  the  Lord's  Supper.  As  the  movement  took  open 
shape,  the  Queen  Eegent  renewed  her  course  of  violence, 
and  so  threatening  did  it  become  that  his  friends  urged 
him  to  accept  an  invitation  from  tlie  English  and 
Scottish  exiles  in  Geneva  to  become  their  minister.  He 
returned  and  spent  two  years  there,  the  only  tranquil 
period  of  Ms  life,  in  the  intimate  friendship  of  Calvin 
and  Beza,  and  in  constant  work  and  study.  At  this 
time,  the  Directory  of  Worship,  known  as  tlie  order  of 


26  JOHN  KNOX. 

Geneva,  was  published.  It  was  the  form  which  had 
been  used  by  Knox  at  Frankfort,  and,  being  adopted 
afterwards  by  the  Eeformed  Church  of  Scotland,  it  has 
made  the  French  and  Scottish  form  of  worship  almost 
the  same.  At  Geneva  he  was  joined  by  his  wife  and 
family,  and  this  season  was  his  refreshment  in  a  life  of 
storms. 

"While  absent  from  Scotland,  he  had  been  con- 
demned to  death  by  fire,  and  his  effigy  burned  at  the 
cross  of  Edinburgh ;  but  a  new  and  pressing  entreaty 
came  to  him  to  return.  He  consulted  Calvin  and 
other  ministers,  and  resolved  to  answer  the  call.  On 
reaching  Dieppe  he  was  met  by  the  intelligence  that 
his  Scottish  friends  had  repented  of  their  resolution. 
Being  familiar  with  the  French  language,  he  devoted 
himself  to  preaching  till  things  should  ripen  at  home. 
He  is  known  to  have  visited  Lyons  and  Eochelle,  and 
he  was  elected  pastor  at  Dieppe,  where,  along  with 
Delaporte  as  fellow-minister,  he  succeeded  in  establish- 
ing a  flourishing  Protestant  community. 

Various  appeals  to  his  countrymen  were  also 
written  and  published  about  this  time,  when  another 
invitation  came  from  the  Scottish  Protestants,  and  he 
embarked  for  Leith,  where  he  landed  May  2,  1559, 
henceforth  to  devote  the  rest  of  his  life  in  incessant 
toil  and  danger  to  the  cause  of  the  Gospel  in  his  own 
country. 

It  was  a  time  of  great  excitement,  and  when  wc 
look  back  on  it,  it  is  seen  to  be   the  turning-point  in 


JOHN  KNOX.  27 

the  liistory  of  religion  among  the  men  who  speak  llie 
EngHsh  language  throughout  the  world.  The  perse- 
cuting Mary  of  England  had  died,  and  had  heeu 
succeeded  hy  Elizabeth,  The  new  queen  had  to 
contend  with  a  strong  reactionary  party,  who  sought, 
in  every  way,  by  secret  plots,  by  attempts  at  assassina- 
tion, and  by  open  insurrection,  to  restore  the  old 
religion.  The  Pope  and  the  Catholic  powers  of  the 
Continent  favoured  their  intrigues,  and  were  ready  to 
land  forces  and  support  them  at  any  favourable 
opportunity ;  an  attempt  which,  after  repeated  trials, 
ended  and  failed  in  the  Spanish  Armada  of  1588. 
Scotland  was  the  road  by  which  it  was  supposed 
England  could  be  most  easily  reached.  If  the  Guises 
could  have  retained  it  in  the  Eomish  faith,  it  would 
have  been  a  fortified  Utc  du  2)ont,  from  which  the 
Papal  army  could  have  issued,  and  struck  a  fatal  blow 
at  the  heart  of  the  Pieformation.  Such  was  the 
situation,  and  both  sides  knew  it.  Mary  Stuart  landed 
from  France  to  take  possession  of  the  throne  of  her 
ancestors  on  August  21,  15G1.  Young,  beautiful, 
possessed  of  all  the  accomj)lishments  and  graces  that 
dazzle  and  charm,  she  entered  on  her  reign  in  a 
cloudless  sunshine  of  popular  favour.  Even  the  Pro- 
testants were  disposed  to  hope  the  best.  But  beneath 
her  enchanting  ease  of  manner  she  had  an  inflexible 
will,  and  talents  of  the  highest  order,  which  were 
devoted  to  the  Church  of  Pome  with  the  bigotry  of 
the  blood  of  the  Guises,  deepened  by  the  strong  recoil 


28  JOHN  KNOX. 

of  her  pleasure-loving  nature  from  the  severe  manners 
of  the  new  religion.  She  had  the  hearts  of  the 
unsuspecting  people,  the  adoration  of  the  young 
nobles,  the  unswerving  fidelity  of  a  large  and  compact 
party  still  attached  to  the  Papacy,  and,  behind  all 
these,  the  counsel  and  gold  and  auxiliary  forces  of  the 
strongest  powers  of  the  Continent.  It  was  an  immi- 
nent hazard,  and  it  is  now  admitted  by  the  calmest 
historians  that,  under  God,  it  was  only  the  energy  and 
wisdom  of  Knox  which  turned  the  scale,  kept  Scot- 
land for  the  Reformation,  saved  England  from  the 
most  critical  danger,  and  thus  preserved  for  Protestant 
Christianity  all  the  influences  that  are  now  going  out 
through  the  world  in  the  English  P)ible  and  missions, 
commerce  and  colonies,  and  that  will,  we  believe, 
continue  to  go  out,  notwithstanding  temporary  relaxa- 
tions and  seeming  reactions. 

The  twelve  years  that  followed  Knox's  return  to 
Scotland  in  1559,  until  his  death,  were  the  crowning 
period  of  liis  life,  to  which  all  his  sufferings  and 
labours  and  wanderings  had  been  leading  up.  They 
were  crowded  with  worlc  of  every  kind,  preaching  to 
the  people  in  all  parts  of  Scotland,  laying  the  founda- 
tions and  ordering  the  service  of  the  Church,  forming 
the  course  of  public  instruction  in  the  schools  and 
universities,  writing  practical  treatises  of  religion, 
watching  and  opposing  the  intrigues  of  the  Court, 
encouraging  and  organizing  the  friends  of  reform  in 
Scotland,  and  maintaining  correspondence  with  minis- 


JOHN  KNOX.  29 

ters  and  statesmen  abroad  on  the  then  supreme 
questions  of  religious  truth  and  freedom.  The  labour 
of  several  lives  was  compressed  into  that  period ;  and 
it  is  impossible  in  so  brief  a  compass  as  this  to 
indicate  even  the  outlines.  Two  or  three  leadintr 
events  may  be  mentioned.  When  he  returned  finally 
from  France  in  1559,  he  was  prevented  from  settling 
in  Edinburgh,  through  its  military  occupation  by  the 
troops  of  the  Queen  Eegent.  He  therefore  made  a 
circuit  of  the  kingdom,  disturbed  as  it  was  by  civil 
war  and  faction,  and  preached  in  all  the  chief  places. 
Such  was  the  eftect  of  his  appeals  that  the  people 
in  the  chief  towns  declared  for  the  Keformation,  and  in 
July  1560  it  was  adopted  by  Act  of  Parliament. 
He  became  minister  in  Edinburgh,  but  continued 
still  to  have  a  care  of  all  the  churches.  The  return 
of  Mary  Stuart  in  1561,  already  referred  to,  intro- 
duced a  new  danger.  She  revived  the  hopes  of  the 
Eomanists,  and  her  fascination  extended  to  leading 
members  of  the  Protestant  party.  She  repeatedly 
sent  for  Knox,  and  the  interviews  between  them  form 
some  of  the  most  picturesque  scenes  in  Scottish 
history,  fertile  as  it  is  in  abrupt  contrasts.  Wliile 
respectful  to  her  as  his  sovereign,  he  was  careful  to 
guard  the  independence  of  the  Church  and  the  free- 
dom of  his  ministerial  ofhce ;  and  his  counsels  about 
her  soul's  interests  to  the  gay,  young  queen,  sur- 
rounded by  her  courtiers,  remind  one  of  Elijah  before 
the   kings   and   queens  of   Israel.      These   interviews 


30  JOHN  KNOX. 

]iav3  been  charged  with  insolence  by  the  Eomish  and 
Episcopalian  historians,  but  they  were  invited  by  the 
queen  herself,  and  the  earnest  words  of  Knox  have  a 
manly  tenderness  in  them  tliat  can  be  felt  by  all, 
except  those  who  hold  that  the  divine  right  of  kings 
puts  them  above  the  reach  of  honest  advice.  The 
later  history  of  Mary,  with  all  the  charm  of  romance 
which  has  gathered  round  it,  is  well  known,  and  has 
been  a  battlefield  ever  since  for  contending  parties. 
Whatever  sympathy  we  may  have  for  the  unhappy 
victim  of  a  passionate  nature  and  an  evil  education, 
no  lover  of  God's  truth,  or  of  man's  freedom,  can 
regret  that  Knox  did  not  suffer  the  fate  of  Wishart, 
and  that  the  struggle  ended  in  favour  of  his  cause. 
It  was  the  conflict  of  conscience  and  the  fear  of  God, 
stern  and  unbending,  as  was  needful  in  the  circum- 
stances, against  the  pleasures  of  the  material  life  and 
the  charms  of  the  sensuous  imagination.  It  pleased 
God  to  give  the  victory  to  this  faithful  old  man, 
who  had  no  weapons  but  the  Word  of  God  and  an 
invincible  confidence  in  its  divine  power. 

In  all  the  troubles  of  Mary's  reign,  and  the  infancy 
of  James  VI.,  Knox  had  one  anxiety,  the  preservation 
of  Christian  truth,  and  its  extension  more  widely  and 
deeply  among  the  people,  through  preaching  and 
education.  Political  events  had  their  chief  interest 
for  liim  in  this  connection,  and  in  no  other  way  was 
he  mixed  up  with  them.  At  length  his  frame,  which 
like   that  of  his  friend   Calvin    had  been    subject   to 


JOHN  KNOX.  31 

life-long  weakness,  sunk  under  toil  and  care.  The 
assassination  of  his  friend,  the  Regent  Moray,  greatly 
depressed  him,  and  the  news  of  the  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew  inflicted  a  deep  wound,  for  it  touched  not 
only  his  love  to  the  common  cause,  but  the  affection 
he  bore  to  many  noble  Christians  whom  he  knew 
and  held  dear.  He  had  been  slightly  struck  with 
apoplexy,  but  continued  to  preach  though  he  could 
with  difficulty  mount  the  pulpit.  When  confined 
through  utter  weakness  to  the  house,  he  made  his 
secretary  read  to  him  daily  the  I7th  chapter  of 
John's  Gospel,  the  53rd  of  Isaiah,  a  chapter  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  with  some  of  the  Psalms  and 
one  of  Calvin's  sermons.  The  week  before  his  death, 
his  colleague,  the  elders  and  deacons  of  his  church, 
and  some  others  came  to  his  room  by  his  request, 
and  he  gave  them  his  parting  charge.  The  beginning 
and  the  close  may  be  given,  as  they  reveal  his  life 
and  his  heart :  '  The  day  approaches,'  he  said,  '  and  is 
now  before  the  door,  for  which  I  have  frequently  and 
vehemently  thirsted,  when  I  shall  be  released  from  my 
great  labours  and  innumerable  sorrows,  and  shall  be  M'ith 
Christ.  And  now  God  is  my  witness,  whom  I  have 
served  in  spirit  in  the  Gospel  of  his  Son,  that  I  have 
taught  nothing  but  the  true  and  solid  doctrine  of  the 
Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  have  had  it  for  my  only 
object  to  instruct  the  ignorant,  to  confirm  the  faithful, 
to  comfort  the  weak,  the  fearful,  and  the  distressed 
by  the  promises  of  grace,  and  to  fight  against  the  proud 


32  TOHN  KNOX. 

and  rebellious  by  the  divine  threatenings.    I  know  that 

many  have  complained  of  my  too  great  severity  ;    but 

God  knows  that  my  mind  was   always  void  of  hatred 

to  the  persons  of  those  against  whom  I  thundered  the 

severest    judgments.      In   the   meantime,   my   dearest 

brethren,  do  you  persevere  in  the  eternal  truth  of  the 

Gospel ;    wait  dihgently  on  the  flock  over  which  the 

Lord  hath  set  you,  and  which  He  redeemed  with  the 

blood  of  his  only-begotten  Son,     The  Lord  from  on 

high  bless  you,  and  the  whole  Church   of   Edinburgh, 

against  whom,  as  long  as  they  persevere  in   the  word 

of  truth,  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail.'     On  the 

24th  November  1572,  his  last  day  on  earth,  his  eyes 

and  speech  began  to  fail.     He   bade  them   read  the 

17th  chapter  of  John's  Gospel,  '  where  he  cast  his  first 

anchor.'      '  And  now,'  he  said,    '  for  the  last   time,  I 

commend  my  soul,  spirit,  and  body  (touching  three  of 

his  fingers)  into  thy  hand,  0  Lord!'      About  eleven 

o'clock  at  night  he  gave  a  deep  sigh,  and  said,  '  Noio 

it  is  come.'    Eicliard  Bannatyne  drew  near,  and  desired 

him  to  think  upon  those  comfortable  promises  of  our 

Saviour  Jesus  Christ  which  he  had  so  often  declared 

to   others,   and,    perceiving    that    he   was    speechless, 

requested  him  to  give  them  a  sign  that  he  heard  them, 

and  that  he  died  in  peace.      Upon  this  he   lifted  up 

one  of  his  hands,  and,  sighing  twice,  expired  without 

a  struggle. 

The  life   of  Knox  was   too   busy  and  troubled  to 
permit  him  to  be  a  great  writer,  even  had   this  been 


JOHN  KNOX.  33 

his  faculty.  The  best  known  of  his  books  is  the 
History  of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland  (edited  by 
David  Laing,  Edinburgh  1846,  2  vols.).  It  is  a 
picturesque  book,  written  with  great  vigour  and  fresh- 
ness, incisive  in  thought  and  expression,  full  of  quaint 
humour  and  mother  wit,  and  thereby  revealing  to  us 
some  of  the  sources  of  Knox's  power  over  the  people. 
His  practical  treatises,  which  are  less  read,  have  great 
fervour  of  spiritual  feeling.  His  fiery  pamphlets  are 
at  rest  on  the  shelves  of  the  antiquary — they  finished 
their  duty  long  ago.  But  the  great  work  Knox  left 
behind  him  is  the  country  and  Church  he  loved  so 
well,  and  for  which  his  life  was  one  long  labour.  He 
found  the  Scottish  people  proud  of  the  national  inde- 
pendence which  their  great  hero  Wallace  had  gained 
for  them,  but  ignorant,  coarse,  debased,  the  prey  of 
rapacious  nobles  and  an  immoral  priesthood.  Ho 
breathed  into  them  a  new  life,  which  made  them 
conscious  they  had  souls,  and  which  put  them  beyond 
reach  of  enslavement  again  by  tyrant  or  priest,  thougli 
it  was  often  attempted.  The  Church  he  reformed 
has  had  a  chequered  existence,  and  latterly  the  spirit 
of  independence  he  breathed  into  it  has  proved  too 
powerful  for  its  outward  uniformity.  The  spirit  of 
Knox  is  the  key  to  the  religious  history  of  Scotland, 
and  his  influence  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  each  section 
of  the  Presbyterian  community  claims  to  possess  the 
larger  part  of  his  mantle.  Events  are  at  work  which 
paay  perfect  in  all   of   them   the  Christian  liberty  he 

c 


34  JOHN  KNOX. 

sought,  and  then  may  come  also  the  unity  which  was 
part  of  his  ideal.  To  Knox  also  it  is  owing  that 
the  Churches  feel  they  must  find,  under  God,  their 
strength  in  the  people,  or  die.  In  the  face  of  hostile 
monarchs  and  a  self-seeking  class  of  nobles,  he 
entrenched  himself  in  the  national  conscience.  With 
the  foresight  of  a  statesman,  he  laid  the  basis  of  a 
wide  and  high  system  of  education,  by  which  all 
should  be  able  to  read  God's  Word  for  themselves,  and 
the  sons  of  the  poorest  rise,  step  by  step,  to  the 
instruction  of  the  universities.  The  effect  of  this  has 
been  that  Scotland  has  exerted  an  influence,  in  the 
British  Empire  and  its  Colonies,  far  beyond  the  pro- 
portion of  its  population,  and  has  done  much,  along 
with  the  Free  Churches  of  England,  to  save  the 
English-speaking  races  from  the  hierarchical  and 
ritualistic  tendencies  of  the  Anglican  system.  It  is 
through  Knox,  more  than  any  other,  that  the  stream 
of  the  French  Eeformation,  checked  in  its  own  country, 
has  flowed  in  upon  the  Anglo-Saxon  communities 
throughout  the  world.  It  should  not  be  forgotten, 
that  the  English  Nonconformists  and  Wesleyans  form 
essentially  one  church  with  the  Presbyterians,  being 
agreed,  not  only  in  their  views  of  doctrine,  but  in  the 
main  elements  of  organization.  It  is  for  this  reason 
that  all  these  Churches  cherish  so  deep  an  interest  in 
the  Protestantism  of  France,  to  which  they  look  as 
an  elder  sister,  and  for  whose  restoration  to  them  in 
her  ancient  strength  and  beauty  they  never  cease  to 


JOHN  KNOX.  35 

pray.  It  may  be  said,  finally,  that,  while  the  Scottish 
Eeformer  was  inferior  to  Luther  and  Calvin  in  several 
respects,  he  united  qualities  that  belonged  to  them 
both,  he  performed  a  work  inferior  to  neither,  and  his 
name  must  take  rank  with  theirs  as  one  of  the  three 
mighty  men  of  the  great  Eeformation.  The  more  his 
character  is  examined,  the  more  it  becomes  clear  that, 
while  he  was  eminent  for  his  energy  and  courage,  his 
penetration  and  statesmanlike  sagacity,  the  spring  of 
his  entire  life-work  was  a  devoted,  spiritual  earnest- 
ness. The  eulogium  over  his  grave  by  the  Eegent 
Morton  was,  '  There  lies  he  who  never  feared  the  face 
of  man ; '  but  the  reason  was,  that  the  Gospel  had 
implanted  deep  in  his  heart  the  fear  of  God. 

The  materials  for  the  history  of  Knox  and  his 
times  are  to  be  found  in  the  early  annals  of  Scotland, 
both  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  especially  Calderwood, 
Eow,  and  Wpdrow,  in  Knox's  own  writings,  and  in  MSS, 
in  various  libraries.  These  have  been  brought  together 
with  great  diligence  and  skill  by  Dr.  M'Crie,  whose 
Life,  of  Knox  is  the  standard  book  on  the  subject. 
Some  special  and  very  interesting  studies  of  his 
character  have  also  been  made,  more  lately,  by  the 
historians  Carlyle  and  Froude. 


THE  REVOCATION  OF  THE  EDICT 
OF  NANTES} 

It  is  well,  before  the  year  1885  has  been  left  far 
behind,  that  attention  should  be  turned  to  an  event 
which  took  place  exactly  two  centuries  previous,  but 
the  effects  of  which  have  been  felt  in  Europe,  and 
especially  in  France  and  Britain,  to  this  day.  The 
rivers  of  the  present  flow  from  the  springs  of  the  past. 
The  antecedents  of  this  pregnant  and  fatal  act  of  Louis 
XIV.  may  be  briefly  glanced  at,  France  promised  at 
one  time  to  be  among  the  first  nations  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, and  her  whole  history  would  then  have  been  a 
very  different  one.  Her  soil  seemed  congenial.  In 
the  early  part  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  Albigenses 
were  found  in  large  numbers  on  the  border  of  the 
Mediterranean  and  in  the  valleys  that  run  from  the 
Garonne  deep  into  the  Pyrenees.  Their  memory  has 
been  traduced  by  their  persecutors,  whose  policy  it 
has  always  been  to  kill  first  the  life  and  then  the 
good  name ;  but  we  know  that  they  renounced  the 
Pope  and  loved  the  Bible — a  negative  and  a  positive 
'  Written  for  the  United  Presbyterian  Magazine,  1886. 


RE  VO  CA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES.     3  7 

pole  which  settle  a  whole  character.  After  desperate 
struggles,  their  heresy  was  quenched  in  blood  by  the 
ferocious  Simon  de  Montfort,  urged  to  his  crusades  by 
the  popes  and  bishops  of  the  day ;  and,  for  flourishing 
towns  and  an  industrious  and  moral  population,  there 
remained  only  smouldering  ruins.  Three  hundred 
years  after,  the  Gospel  was  preached  in  these  same 
regions  with  wonderful  results  :  '  Truth,'  says  the 
Psalmist,  '  shall  spring  out  of  the  earth.'  Nowhere, 
through  all  France,  was  there  such  a  turning  to  the 
Eeformation  li^ht  as  in  the  south.  But  all  France 
was  stirred.  Lef^vre,  who  preached  the  truth  of 
justification  by  faith  before  Luther,  followed  by  Farel, 
Calvin,  and  Beza,  went  everywhere,  and  multitudes 
embraced  the  Protestant  doctrines.  The  converts 
were  chiefly  of  the  middle  and  artisan  classes,  stretch- 
ing into  the  nobility  and  touching  the  royal  family  ; 
among  them  '  of  devout  women  not  a  few.'  The  sister 
of  Francis  I.,  Marguerite  des  MargiLerites,  '  the  pearl  of 
pearls,'  as  her  brother  called  her,  was  one  of  them ; 
not  less  gifted,  and  more  devout,  was  Eenee,  Duchess 
of  Ferrara,  and  daughter  of  Louis  XII. ;  and  most 
noble  and  heroic  of  all  was  Joanna  D'Albret  of 
Navarre,  mother  of  Henry  IV.  So  wide  and  strong 
was  the  tide  that  the  governors  of  France  hesitated 
for  a  time  if  they  should  not  follow  it.  But  the  ruler 
in  whose  hand  the  chief  determination  lay  was 
Catharine  de  Medici,  the  mother  of  a  number  of 
princes  who  succeeded  as  minors  to  the  throne,  and 


38     RE  VOCA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES. 

in  whose  name  she  governed ;  among  them,  Francis 
II.,  the  short-lived  husband  of  our  Mary  Stuart.  The 
character  of  Catharine — and  in  this  we  have  the 
testimony  of  undisputed  history — was  a  compound 
of  the  inordinate  love  of  pleasure  and  power,  so 
ambitious  of  rule  that  she  set  herself  to  corrupt  the 
morals  of  her  own  sons  in  order  to  unfit  them  for 
interfering  with  her,  laying  the  same  snares  for  any 
man  who  seemed  likely  to  cross  her  path.  For  a 
while  she  wavered,  or  seemed  to  waver,  between  the 
Protestants  and  the  Guises,  their  irreconcilable  enemies, 
but  who  again,  on  their  own  part,  might  be  her 
dangerous  rivals.  At  length  she  decided  to  crush  the 
Protestants  for  two  weighty  reasons :  their  morals 
were  too  severe  for  her  taste,  and,  as  they  had  begun 
to  think  for  themselves  in  religion,  they  might  do  the 
same  in  politics.  Their  leading  men  were  invited  to 
Paris  under  friendly  assurances,  and  the  pretext  of 
arranging  terms  of  religious  toleration.  When  all 
was  ready,  the  houses  where  they  lived  being  marked, 
and  soldiers  and  fanatical  assassins  assigned  their 
work,  the  bell  of  St.  Germain  I'Auxerrois  tolled  the 
death  signal  at  twelve  o'clock  at  night,  August  24, 
1572.  It  was  close  to  the  Louvre,  and  many  a  tocsin 
of  blood  and  terror  has  sounded  since  around  that 
palace,  with  a  different  meaning  to  its  inmates.  The 
doors  of  the  Protestant  houses  were  broken  open,  and 
death  dealt  out  by  fire  and  sword,  often  without 
distinction   of  age   or   sex.     When  some  of  the  poor 


RE  VOCATION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES.     39 

fugitives  lied  to  tlie  walls  of  tlie  Louvre  for  slielter, 
tliey  were  fired  on  by  the  king,  Cliarles  IX,,  from  a 
window  wliich  is  still  pointed  out.  The  massacre 
extended  to  the  provinces,  by  orders  sent  to  them, 
and  it  is  calculated  that  from  30,000  to  70,000 
Protestants  were  murdered ;  some  raise  the  number 
to  100,000.  It  could  never  be  exactly  known,  as 
many  fled  to  mountains  and  forests,  dying  of  hunger 
and  exposure,  and  many  sought  safety  in  exile.  A 
cry  of  horror  arose  through  Europe,  and  John  Knox, 
who  was  then  on  a  sick-bed,  sank  under  the  blow. 
A  number  of  the  victims  were  his  dear  personal 
friends,  and  he  foreboded  what  might  come  to  Scot- 
land, if  that  power  against  which  he  had  fought  all 
his  life  were  to  prevail.  Catharine  boasted  of  the 
deed  privately  to  the  Popish  courts,  and  sought  to 
palliate  it  to  the  Protestant  ones.  The  Pope,  by 
whom  the  news  had  been  expected,  went  in  solemn 
procession,  in  Eome,  to  the  Church  of  St.  Louis,  the 
patron  saint  of  France,  and  sang  Tc  Dcum.  Medals 
were  struck  by  him  in  commemoration,  and  a  painting 
by  Giorgio  Vasari,  representing  the  slaughter  in 
detail,  adorns  one  of  the  walls  of  the  Vatican  at  the 
entrance  to  the  Sistine  Chapel,  which  the  Pope  passes 
when  he  performs  his  devotions  amid  the  choicest 
frescoes  of  Eaphael.  The  only  change  made  in  Vasari's 
picture  by  the  light  of  modern  time  is  that  the  words 
Strages  Huguenottorum,  the  Slaughter  of  the  Huguenots, 
which  originally  stood  there,  have  been  removed.      But 


40     RE  VOCA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES. 

why  does  Eome  not  efface  these  witnesses  of  her 
complicity  with  this  ferocious  past  ?  For  a  simple 
reason.  She  has  never  admitted,  but  always  denounced, 
the  rio-ht  of  the  individual  conscience,  and  she  cannot 
admit  that  she  has  ever  been  wrong  in  her  attitude 
toward  it.  Whatever  single  Eoman  Catholics  may  do, 
this  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  and  she  prefers  to 
let  the  records  stand,  and  preserve  a  discreet  silence, 
or  seek,  by  Jesuit  advocacy,  to  cast  back  the  blood- 
stains on  the  victims.  Those  Protestants  who  would 
persuade  themselves  and  others  that  the  Church  of 
Eome  has  altered  her  \iews  are  more  charitable  to  her 
than  she  is  to  herself. 

The  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  was  a  stunning 
blow  to  the  French  Protestants,  for  they  had  lost  most 
of  their  leaders,  and,  among  them,  the  noble  and 
devout  Coligny,  who  had  served  his  country  in  many 
an  emergency.  Nevertheless  they  rallied,  and  a  fierce 
conflict  of  varying  fortune  ensued  for  twenty  years, 
till  Henry  of  Navarre,  their  chief  leader,  became  heir 
to  the  throne  of  France  through  the  failure  of  the 
line  of  Valois.  He  was  the  first  of  the  Bourbon 
family,  as  Henry  IV.  The  hopes  of  the  Protestants 
were  high,  but  they  were  doomed  to  a  large  disap- 
pointment. Henry  conformed  to  the  Eomish  faith. 
He  was  led  to  this  partly  by  the  fear  that  he  could 
not  otherwise  gain  the  crown,  and  partly  by  want  of 
thorough  sympathy  with  the  Protestants,  from  his  love 
of  pleasure   and  the   corruption  of  his  morals  which 


RE  VO CA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES.      4 1 

had  been  begun,  years  before,  by  Catharine  de  Medici. 
He  had  in  him  the  nature  of  his  grandson,  our  Charles 
II.,  and  there  is  a  curious  parallel  between  the  conduct 
of  Charles  to  the  Presbyterians  and  that  of  Henry 
to  the  Huguenots,  though,  beyond  doubt,  in  other 
respects,  Henry  had  higher  traits  of  character.  It 
was  a  deplorable  step  in  many  ways.  It  was  a  greater 
check  to  Protestantism  than  ten  lost  battles,  for  it 
filled  the  true  men  with  shame,  and  led  the  way 
among  the  titled  and  the  wealthy  to  generations  of 
defection.  When  the  fire  slackens,  the  white  ashes 
gather  fast  on  the  top,  and  a  breath  carries  them 
away.  It  was  a  blow  to  France  and  to  Henry's  own 
dynasty,  for  it  shook  faith  in  principle,  and  the 
apostasy  of  the  first  Bourbon  prepared  the  exile  of 
the  last.  It  brought  danger  to  our  own  country,  and 
helped  the  ruin  of  the  Stuart  line.  His  daughter, 
Henrietta,  married  to  our  Charles  I.,  strengthened  that 
monarch  in  his  obstinate  despotism,  and  bequeathed 
the  Eomish  principles  in  which  she  was  reared,  with 
her  father's  love  of  pleasure,  to  the  men  of  the  later 
Stuart  blood.  And  it  did  not  secure  for  Henry 
himself  a  peaceful  end.  He  was  distrusted  by  the 
Jesuits,  because  he  would  not  be  their  creature,  and, 
after  repeated  attempts  on  his  life,  he  fell  at  last  in 
the  streets  of  Paris  by  the  knife  of  Ptavaillac.  But 
Henry,  though  he  had  no  deep  principle,  had  an  idea 
of  state  policy,  and  was  not  altogether  unmindful  of 
his  former  co-religionists.      He  was  a  friend  to  them, 


42     RE  VO CA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES. 

not  from  sympathy  with  their  religious  views,  but  on 
the  principles  of  fairness  and  freedom,  as  far  as  these 
could  be  acted  on  at  the  time.  The  clergy  of  the 
Eomish  Church,  a  large  mass  of  the  fanaticized  popu- 
lation, and  the  city  of  Paris — which  on  so  many 
occasions  has  given  law  to  France — were  against  every 
degree  of  religious  liberty.  Nevertheless,  in  1598, 
he  framed  and  issued  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  so  called 
from  the  city  where  it  was  signed.  It  was  not  a 
charter  of  freedom,  but  a  grant  of  toleration.  The 
toleration,  too,  was  limited  to  the  places  where  the 
Protestants  were  already  possessed  of  the  privilege 
of  worship ;  but  where  they  were  weak  and  scattered 
they  were  unprotected.  They  were  denied  the  right 
of  extending  their  religion,  and  checked  in  defending 
it  by  argument.  They  were  not  allowed  to  have  a 
church  in  Paris,  and  only  one  in  the  suburban  village 
of  Charenton.  In  the  ninety-two  articles  of  which 
it  consisted  there  were  many  provisos  and  restric- 
tions through  which  they  could  be  harassed  by  an 
unfriendly  Government  and  a  dominant  priesthood. 
Their  religion  was  called  in  the  Edict  '  the  pretended 
Eeformed  ; '  and,  througli  all  France,  while  Eomanism 
was  the  legal  religion,  Protestantism  was  only  in  some 
places  the  permitted  one.  Yet,  such  as  it  was,  it 
cost  Henry  his  life  at  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits ;  and 
the  Protestants  found,  when  he  was  dead,  that  they 
had  lost  a  friend.  Severe  struggles  followed,  deepen- 
ing   into    occasional    civil   wars,   but,   on    the   whole, 


RE  VO  CA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES.     43 

Protestantism  had  a  measure  of  peace  and  prosperity. 
Wlieu  the  Edict  was  issued,  it  had  750  powerful 
congregations  in  central  towns,  and  four  colleges, 
Sedan,  Saumur,  Montauban,  and  Montpellier.  Its 
literary  and  theological  chairs  were  filled  by  men  of 
European  reputation,  and  students  flocked  to  them 
from  Switzerland,  Germany,  Holland,  England,  and 
Scotland.  They  were  the  means  of  spreading  those 
views  of  religious  truth  and  church  government 
known  as  the  Eeformed,  in  distinction  from  the 
Lutheran  and  Anglican,  and  which  have  since  pre- 
vailed so  largely  among  the  English  Nonconformists, 
the  Scottish  and  Irish  Presbyterians,  in  the  United 
States,  and  in  our  Colonies,  not  to  speak  of  the 
Eeformed  Churches  of  Holland,  the  PJiine  provinces, 
Brandenburg,  and  Eastern  Europe,  Between  Scotland 
and  France,  at  that  time,  there  was  a  close  connection. 
At  Saumur  and  Sedan,  Scotsmen  were  not  only  students 
but  professors.  We  have  space  but  to  name  Robert 
Boyd  and  the  learned  John  Cameron,  professors  at 
Saumur,  both  of  whom  became  principals  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Glasgow,  and  Andrew  Melville,  principal 
of  the  college  of  Sedan,  whose  name  stands,  amid  a 
roll  of  his  fellow-countrymen,  on  a  tablet  in  the  little 
Erench  Protestant  Church  which  has  risen  from  the 
wreck  left  by  persecution.  He  preached  for  years 
in  the  town -church  built  by  the  descendants  of 
Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  the  crusader,  ardent  friends  of 
the  Eeformation.     The  church  was  given  over  to  the 


44     REVOCATION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES. 

Pioman  Catholics,  and  no  one  can  tell  where  Andrew 
Melville  is  buried.  A  succession  of  ministers  illus- 
trious for  learning  and  eloquence  adorns  that  period  ; 
Jurieu,  Amyraut,  Eivet,  Basnage,  Dumoulin,  Bochart, 
Daille,  Ancillon,  Claude  ;  Duplessis  Mornay  has  been 
rarely  equalled  for  Christian  chivalry  and  tender 
devotion ;  and  Bernard  Palissy,  who  died  as  a  heretic 
in  the  Bastille,  just  before  the  Edict  of  toleration,  is 
a  specimen  of  the  genius  they  brought  to  art. 

A  change  took  place  when  Louis  XIV.  passed  from 
his  minority  into  active  rule  in  1661 — memorable  in 
Britain  as  the  year  of  the  Stuart  Eestoration.  His 
instincts  appear  to  have  been  at  first  towards  what 
was  good,  but  they  fell  into  an  appetite  for  the  grand, 
or  rather  the  grandiose,  and  the  glittering.  His  am- 
bition was  to  be  sole  ruler  in  France,  his  motto  being, 
'/  am  the  State'  and  to  extend  this  sway  through 
Europe  by  conquest.  Provincial  and  local  government 
was  abolished,  and  the  centralization  of  France  estab- 
lished in  Paris,  and  in  his  palace.  Such  a  faith  as 
Protestantism  was  not  likely  to  find  favour  with  such 
a  monarch.  In  addition,  Louis,  like  so  many  of  his 
predecessors,  was  immoral  in  life,  and  his  mistresses 
had  him  in  their  keeping,  especially  the  celebrated 
Madame  de  IMaintenon,  who,  as  a  renegade  Protestant, 
regarded  the  religion  she  had  left  with  an  implacable 
hatred.  Louis  was  ignorant  of  religion,  but  he  was 
superstitious,  and  his  confessor,  Lachaise,  whose  name 
is  preserved  in  the  Parisian  cemetery,  led  him  in  the 


REVOCATION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES.     45 

same  direction  as  his  mistresses.  When  his  conscience 
was  roused,  he  was  told  that  the  most  acceptable 
amends  was  the  extinction  of  heresy.  The  Duke  of 
St.  Simon,  no  friend  to  the  Protestants,  writes :  '  The 
king  wished  to  be  saved,  and,  as  he  had  no  religion, 
he  found  peace  by  inflicting  penance  on  the  Huguenots 
and  Jansenists.'  From  memoirs  which  Louis  himself 
has  left,  called  Instructions  to  his  Son,  there  is  a  clear 
view  of  the  course  of  policy  he  meant  to  pursue.  He 
intended,  he  says,  to  maintain  the  Edict  of  Nantes  as 
far  as  justice  and  policy  required,  but  he  was  deter- 
mined not  to  extend  any  favour  beyond  its  limits. 
His  grace  must  necessarily  be  reserved  for  the  faithful 
subjects  who  were  of  his  own  religion,  and  he  hoped 
that,  by  and  by,  the  others  would  see  it  to  be  for 
their  advantage  to  take  the  step  that  would  make 
them  sharers  of  it.  He  instructed  the  bishops  to 
work  zealously  for  the  conversion  of  heretics,  and  to 
offer  such  rewards  as  were  fitting  to  those  who 
had  docile  minds.  Commissaries  were  appointed 
to  all  the  provinces  to  look  into  the  affairs  of  the 
Huguenots,  to  examine  the  titles  they  had  to  churches 
and  privileges,  and  to  carry  out  the  law  of  restriction. 
The  king's  wish  was  the  guide  of  his  servants,  and 
success  was  the  way  to  promotion.  A  seeming  ilaw 
in  a  title  caused  a  church  to  be  pulled  down;  the 
presence  of  Eoman  Catholics  in  the  congregation  did 
the  same,  for  this  was  charged  as  proselytism ;  and 
when   the  Protestants  met  elsewhere  for  worship,  or 


46     REVO CA TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES. 

presented  a  petition,  they  were  dispersed  and  prosecuted 
as  disturbers  of  the  peace.  Gradually  measures  became 
more  severe.  Churches  were  shut,  on  the  ground  of 
their  annoying,  by  their  praise,  the  worship  and  feeling 
of  Eoman  Catholics ;  Protestant  children  were  allowed 
to  renounce  the  religion  of  their  parents,  if  they  were 
seven  years  of  age,  and  were  then  given  over  to  monks 
and  nuns  to  be  educated ;  soldiers  were  quartered  in 
Protestant  districts,  and  allowed  to  plunder  and  work 
their  will.  The  wretched  people  were  subjected  to 
all  kinds  of  violence  in  property  and  person.  Every 
imaginable  torture,  that  was  not  fatal,  was  put  in 
requisition.  They  were  kept  from  sleeping  by  relays 
of  soldiers  beating  drums  and  pricking  them  with  their 
swords  till  they  were  almost  unconscious.  Missionaries 
and  Sisters  of  Mercy  followed  with  ensnaring  offers, 
asking  them  to  promise  submission  to  religion  as  it  was 
in  the  days  of  the  apostles  ;  and,  when  they  consented, 
they  were  marched  off  in  procession  to  the  cathedral 
to  have  Te  Deum  sung  over  them,  with  the  penalty  of 
relapsed  heretics  if  they  again  entered  a  Protestant 
church.  The  effect  was  the  ostensible  conversion  of 
o-reat  numbers  of  Protestants,  of  whom  one  of  the 
bishops  said,  '  The  parents  may  be  hypocrites,  but  the 
children  will  be  brought  up  good  Catholics.'  This 
success  was  so  represented  to  Louis  that  there  seemed 
no  more  reason  for  delay.  There  was  no  need  of  an 
Edict  of  Nantes,  since  there  were  no  more  Protestants 
in  France:  and  in  1685   Madame  de  Maintenon  per- 


REVOCATION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES.     47 

suaded  liim  to  revoke  the  Edict,  and  to  unite  himself 
to  her  by  a  private  marriage. 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  pause  and  see  how  these 
events  were  regarded  by  leading  men  in  France  outside 
the  Protestant  Church.  The  king's  confessor,  Letellier, 
who  had  succeeded  Lachaise,  when  he  put  the  seal  to  the 
Eevocation,  broke  out  into  Simeon's  words,  '  Lord,  now 
lettest  Thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace,'  and  '  with 
right,'  says  the  Jesuit  D'Avrigny, '  for  he  might  well  con- 
sider it  as  the  happiest  and  most  glorious  event  of  his 
life.'  The  bishops  and  clergy  expended  eloquence  to 
extravagance  in  praise  of  the  deed  and  the  doer  of  it. 
'  Touched  by  so  many  marvels,'  says  Bossuet,  '  let  us  ex- 
pand our  hearts  in  praise  of  the  piety  of  Louis.  Let  our 
acclamations  ascend  to  the  skies,  and  let  us  say  to  this 
new  Constantino,  this  new  Theodosius,  this  new  Charle- 
magne, what  the  thirty-six  fathers  formerly  said  in  the 
Council  of  Chalcedon :  "  You  have  strengthened  faith  ; 
you  have  exterminated  heretics  ;  it  is  a  work  worthy  of 
your  reign.  Thanks  to  you,  heresy  is  no  more.  God 
alone  can  have  worked  this  marvel.  King  of  heaven, 
preserve  the  king  of  earth :  it  is  the  prayer  of  the 
Church,  it  is  the  prayer  of  the  bishops." '  Massillon 
followed  in  the  same  strain,  and  Fluchier  and  the 
gentle  F^nelon.  The  Abbe  Tallemand  apostrophized 
the  ruins  of  the  Protestant  church  of  Charenton,  which 
had  been  demolished  amid  the  tears  and  despairing 
cries  of  its  children :  '  Happy  ruins,  the  finest  trophy 
France  ever  beheld  ! '     Even  the  Jansenists,  who  had 


48     RE  VOCA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES. 

asserted  love  to  be  the  only  homage  God  will  accept, 
declared  by  the  lips  of  Arnauld,  'That  the  means 
which  had  been  employed  were  rather  violent  but 
nowise  unjust.'  They  were,  ere  long,  to  find  these 
means  used  against  themselves.  At  Eome,  again,  as 
on  the  day  of  St.  Bartholomew,  Tc  Deum  was  sung 
with  unbounded  joy,  and  Innocent  XI.  sent  a  brief  to 
Louis  in  which  he  gave  him  the  unanimous  thanks  of 
the  Church.  Medals  were  struck,  and  the  art  of  the 
greatest  painter  of  the  time  employed  to  decorate  the 
OTeat  hall  of  Versailles  with  emblems  of  the  ruin  of 

O 

heresy.  It  was  the  Augustan  age  of  French  literature, 
of  Eacine  and  Moliere  and  La  Bruyere,  but  not  a  voice 
was  lifted  in  protest.  Madame  de  S^vigne  wrote  of  it, 
'  There  is  nothing  so  fine  as  what  this  Eevocation  con- 
tains ;  and  never  has  any  king  done,  nor  will  ever  do, 
au"ht  so  memorable,' — which  came  true  in  another  sense 
than  this  fine  lady  meant  it.  There  were  a  few,  such 
as  Vauban,  the  great  military  engineer,  and  the  Duke 
of  St.  Simon,  who  were  bold  enough  to  utter  dislike ; 
and,  to  the  honour  of  humanity,  let  it  be  said  there 
were  among  the  humbler  Eoman  Catholics  not  a  few 
instances  of  relenting  and  of  pitiful  help ;  but,  beyond 
Louis  and  Madame  de  Maintenon,  the  Church  of  Eome, 
as  a  Church,  was  guilty  from  Pope  to  priest  of  instiga- 
tion and  approbation,  and  the  majority  of  the  French 
nation  of  active  assistance  or  guilty  silence.  In  pro- 
portion to  this  fell  the  retribution.  Let  us  look 
at  it. 


RE  VOCA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES.     49 

The  slow  agony  of  the  j)ersecution,  and  then  the 
blow  of  the  Eevocation,  seemed  to  paralyse  the  Pro- 
testants. But  there  came  a  burst  of  energy,  unex- 
pected by  their -oppressors  or  by  themselves.  A  panic 
of  flight  seized  all  to  whom  escape  was  possible.  If 
near  the  frontiers,  they  crossed  in  thousands ;  if  in  the 
interior,  they  hid  in  the  woods  by  day  and  travelled 
by  night,  assuming  all  possible  disguises ;  if  near  the 
sea,  they  embarked  in  the  first  vessel  they  could  find, 
hiding  in  the  hold  or  in  barrels,  committing  themselves 
to  open  boats  in  any  kind  of  weather.  They  sought 
homes  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe,  from  Switzerland 
to  Sweden,  but  especially  in  Holland  and  Great  Britain ; 
they  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  America,  and  settled  in 
South  Africa  and  the  East.  Whole  districts  of  France 
were  left  uncultivated,  manufacturing  towns  were 
diminished  in  many  cases  by  a  third  of  their  popula- 
tion, and  it  is  no  exaggerated  calculation  that  Erance 
lost  by  emigration  half  a  million  inhabitants.  AVhere 
the  Protestants  were  most  numerous,  in  the  centre  of 
France,  and  where  escape  was  more  difficult,  they  took 
to  arms  and  maintained  for  years  a  despairing  conflict 
among  the  mountains  of  the  Cevennes.  Under  skilful 
and  daring  leaders,  and  against  overwhelming  odds, 
they  defeated,  time  after  time,  the  armies  of  Louis  ; 
and  it  was  only  by  the  sacrifice  of  thousands  of  his 
best  troops,  and  a  number  of  his  best  generals,  that  he 
succeeded  in  restoring  quiet.  The  story  of  the  Church 
of  the  Desert,  and  the  wars  of  the  Camisards,  is  one 

D 


so     REVOCATION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES. 

of  the  most  thrilling  interest,  resembling  that  of  our 
own  Covenanters,  but  on  a  larger  scale  and  in  even 
darker  colours.  Besides  the  works  of  Felice,  Peyrat, 
and  Weiss,  there  are  many  of  the  narratives,  local  and 
personal,  now  being  published  in  France  by  historical 
societies,  and  the  perusal  of  them  must  have  an  effect 
in  favour  of  religious  liberty,  if  not  of  religious  truth. 
Having  given  an  account  of  the  Revocation,  we  shall 
refer  to  some  of  the  results  which  can  be  directly 
traced  to  it.  The  first  was  great  industrial  and  intel- 
lectual loss  to  France.  This  consisted  not  merely  in 
the  number  of  the  refugees,  but  in  their  character. 
They  were  the  very  cream  and  flower  of  the  middle 
and  working  classes,  the  strength  of  the  social  system 
for  intelligence  and  morality.  The  amount  of  wealth 
which  left  the  country  was  considerable.  Many  fled, 
despoiled  of  all  they  possessed,  thankful  to  preserve  con- 
science and  life  ;  but  numbers  found  means  of  carry- 
ing off  money  or  its  equivalent  by  the  most  ingenious 
methods  ;  or  they  concealed  their  valuables  in  hiding- 
places,  and  afterwards  recovered  them.  This,  however, 
was  a  trifle  compared  with  what  was  lost  in  the  exiles 
themselves.  A  great  part  of  the  skilled  labour  of 
France  had  been  in  their  hands.  The  historian  Weiss 
gives  a  long  list  of  the  manufactures  carried  on  chiefly 
by  Protestants,  and  of  the  towns  and  districts  enriched 
by  them.  Woollen  and  silken  stuffs,  ribbon-weaving, 
hats,  hosiery,  paper,  watches,  thread,  work  in  iron, 
steel,   bronze,  copper,  lead,  the  arts  of  the  armourer, 


RE  VO  CA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES.      5 1 

locksmith,  cutler,  polisher,  were  theirs  in  great 
measure.  The  very  sails  of  the  royal  navy  of 
England,  before  the  Revocation,  came  from  France. 
The  fields,  gardens,  orchards,  flowers,  and  fruits  of  the 
Huguenot  agriculturists  had  a  verdure  and  richness  by 
which  they  could  be  recognized,  and  which  showed  the 
splendid  material  for  colonization  France  at  that  time 
possessed.  All  this  became  the  prize  of  her  Protestant 
neighbours,  who  welcomed  the  exiles  with  open  arms, 
both  from  sympathy  with  their  sufferings  and  a  sense 
of  their  value  as  citizens.  A  new  era  of  manufacture 
and  commerce  began  in  the  countries  where  they 
settled ;  and,  from  being  importers,  these  lands  com- 
peted with  and  conquered  France  in  her  former 
markets.  The  Elector  of  Brandenburg  was  distin- 
guished for  the  liberality  of  his  advances  in  money  to 
crowds  of  farmers  and  mechanics,  and  he  found  his 
reward  in  the  change  of  the  waste  sands  of  tlie  Mark 
into  green  fields  round  what  is  now  the  capital  of  the 
German  Empire,  and  in  new  industries  which  turned 
dull  villages  into  flourishing  towns.  It  was  an 
important  element  in  the  growth  by  which  Branden- 
burg rose  into  the  kingdom  of  Prussia,  the  successful 
rival  of  France,  and  the  leader  in  the  wars  for  German 
unity.  Switzerland,  Denmark,  Sweden,  even  Ptussia, 
and  the  lands  beyond  the  Atlantic  had  their  share,  but 
none  profited  so  much  as  Holland  and  Britain. 
Holland,  which  had  made  so  noble  a  struggle  against 
the  overwhelming  power  of  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  was 


52     REVO CA TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES. 

beginning  to  lose  its  spirit  of  devotion  and  self-sacrifice, 
and  the  influx  of  the  emigrants  and  their  influence 
jzave  the  needed  stimulus  at  the  critical  time.     They 
crossed  the  frontier,  which  was  near,  in  great  numl3ers, 
and   brought   not  only  an  accession  of  industry  and 
skill,  but  of   high   religious   intelligence   and    ardour. 
The    bigoted    folly  of  Louis   XIV.  was   building    up 
embankments  against  his  own  ambition  more  effectual 
than  any  that  Dutch  determination  ever  reared  against 
the   waters   of   the    ocean.     What    happened  in    our 
own  country  may  be  judged  of  from  the  fact  that  in 
V     London  alone  there  were  thirty-one  French  churches ; 
and  all  the  chief  towns  of  the  kingdom  had  their  pro- 
portion.    There  was  a  settlement  in  Edinburgh,  which 
gave  name  to  Picardy  Place  ;  and  French  was  spoken 
by  those  sprung  from  refugees  far  on  in  last  century. 
A   prayer  meeting  which  was  a  descendant  of  their 
church   is   said  still  to  survive  in  Canonmills,  Edin- 
burgh ;  and  it  would  be  curious  if  we  could  connect 
this   rehc  of   the  Ptevocation  with  the  cradle  of  the 
Scottish  Disruption.     These  French  artisans  brought 
to  Britain"improved  modes  of  work  and  new  industries. 
The  secrets  of  trade  came  from  Tours  and  Lyons  for 
silks,  and  velvets,  and  various  stuffs  which  had  been 
the  pride    and   monopoly   of    France.     The    refugees 
made   for  themselves  as  a   whole  prosperous   homes, 
after  their  passage  through  their  Eed  Sea  ;  and  perhaps 
no  more  striking  instance  of  despotism  overreaching 
and  ruininiT  itself  can  be  found  since  that  far-off  time 


RE  VO  CA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES.     5  3 

in  Egypt,  Then  God's  hand  was  raised  to  strike 
down  the  oppressor  and  open  a  way  to  new  lands  of 
freedom.  In  this  connection  we  must  not  forget  to 
mention  another  class  of  exiles  who  had  almost  greater 
influence — the  men  of  thought,  of  learning,  of  literary 
skill  and  scientific  genius.  Of  preachers  may  be 
named  Allix,  Abbadie,  and  Saurin,  all  of  them,  espe- 
cially the  last,  remarkable  for  their  eloquence  ;  men 
who  gave  form  and  brightness  to  the  old  Puritan  gold, 
and  introduced  a  fresh  method  of  preaching,  wdiich 
began  with  the  eighteenth  century.  The  first  literary 
newspaper  in  Dublin  was  commenced  by  one  of  them, 
and  noted  names  are  to  be  found  in  the  Irish  Pro- 
testant Churches  which  tell  of  their  French  orisiin. 
In  other  departments  there  were  Denis  Papin,  the 
inventor  of  the  Digester,  which  was  the  forerunner  of 
the  steam-engine,  and  surgeons  who  gave  a  perfection 
to  instruments  and  practice  heretofore  unlvuown. 
Others  devoted  themselves  to  law,  to  art,  to  the  con- 
duct of  public  business,  and  names  occur  in  our  par- 
liamentary life  and  great  banking-houses  which  speak 
of  their  talent  for  finance  and  politics.  Among  these 
are  Ptomilly,  Lefevre,  Latouclie,  Chamberlain,  Ligonier, 
Labouchere,  Layard,  Majendie,  Prevost,  Thelusson  ;  but 
the  traces  of  most  of  them  have  been  lost  througli 
translation  into  English,  and  have  disappeared  in  the 
great  families  of  P>rowns,  Blacks,  Whites,  and  Smiths, 
which  have  done  so  much  for  every  country  in  the 
civilized  world. 


54     I^EVO  CA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES. 

But  not  less  remarkable  was  the  political  result. 
Louis  XIV.  had  in  view  the  establishment  of  a 
dictatorship  in  Europe,  and  he  had  in  great  measure 
reached  it.  Germany,  then  divided,  had  lost  Alsace 
and  Strasburg,  and  quailed  before  him.  He  had  seized 
Flanders  (now  Belgium),  and  Holland  was  expecting 
the  same  fate.  He  had  command  of  the  policy  of 
England  through  Charles  II.  and  James,  his  creatures 
and  pensioners,  both  of  them  Eoman  '  Catholics — the 
one  secretly,  the  other  openly.  As  happens  at  such 
tides,  conversions  among  the  nobility  came  floating 
into  the  Boman  net,  and  there  were  Te,  Deums  and 
great  gladness  and  hope  at  the  court  of  Innocent  XI. 
What  Philip  of  Spain  failed  in  was  about  to  be  done 
by  Louis,  and  the  Jesuits  were  to  gather  up  and  repair 
the  wreck  of  the  Armada.  But,  in  seeking  to  extirpate 
Protestantism  in  France,  the  Pope  lost  his  prospect  of 
recovering  Britain.  The  year  of  the  Bevocation  was 
the  very  year  of  James's  accession  to  the  British  tlirone. 
Tlie  thousands  of  refugees  who  reached  our  shores 
spread  the  tale  of  their  sufferings,  fired  the  hearts  of 
the  people  with  indignation  and  pity,  with  hatred  of 
Bomish  tyranny  and  fear  for  their  own  liberties.  This 
was  one  of  the  main  forces  which  led  to  the  overthrow 
of  the  Stuarts  and  the  Be  volution  of  1688,  which 
brought  relief  to  the  English  Nonconformists  and  the 
Scottish  Presbyterians  who  had  been  groaning  under 
the  oppression  of  Anglican  High  Churchism.  One 
curious   incident   may  be  given   as  an  illustration  in 


RE  VO  CA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES.     5  5 

detail.      William   of   Orange,  in    1G88,  had  not  suffi- 
cient means  to  equip  his  army  and  fleet  for  his  expedi- 
tion from  Holland,  till  the  French  refugees  came  to  his 
aid   with  the   funds   they  had   saved   in   their  flight. 
They  contributed  to  his  little  army  three  regiments  of 
foot  and   a   squadron  of   cavalry,  with    736   veteran 
officers  disposed  among  his  other  forces ;  and  William 
had  as  his  most  skilful  and  trusted  general  Marshal 
Schomberg,  the  descendant  of  an  old  Protestant  family 
which  had  remained  stedfast  to  its  faith  amid  all  the 
changes  of  the  time.     It  was  remarked  that  it  fell  to 
one    refugee    officer    to    order   the   King    of    France's 
ambassador,  who  was  in  the  plots  of  the  period,  to  quit 
London   within   twenty-four   hours  ;    and   another    of 
them  accompanied  him  to  Dover  to  protect  him  from 
the  wrath  of  the  people.     It  was  one  of  those  inci- 
dents which  makes  us  feel  as  if  Providence  were  writing 
the  word  justice   on   human    affairs   with   the    sharp 
point  of  a  sarcasm,  and  repeating  the  saying  of  the 
ancient  patriarch, '  He  poureth  contempt  upon  princes.' 
In   the  war  which   followed   in    Ireland,  the  refugees 
bore  a  distinguished  part,  and  Schomberg  and  Caille- 
motte,    another    gallant     French    leader,    fell    in    the 
decisive  charge   at  the   battle    of   the  Boyne.     After 
William  had  secured  himself  on  the  throne  of  Great 
Britain,  he  became  the  leader  of  a  European  coalition, 
and  set  himself  to  what  had  been  the  aim  of  his  life, 
to  bridle  the  ambition  of  Louis  XIV.,  the  enemy  of  his 
country  and  his  faith.      French  Protestant  officers  and 


56     REVOCATION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES. 

soldiers,  some  of  whom  had  Ijeen  compelled  to  renounce 
the  profession  of  their  religion  before  they  could  escape 
from  Trance,  fought  with  the  most  distinguished 
gallantry  under  him  and  Marlborough  and  Prince 
Eugene,  fired  with  the  desire  to  wipe  out  their  dis- 
honour, and  to  carry,  if  j)ossible,  help  and  freedom  to 
their  co-religionists  in  French  dungeons  and  galleys. 
The  armies  of  Louis,  the  best  soldiers  in  which  had 
been  exhausted  in  the  war  with  the  Camisards,  were 
defeated ;  his  finances,  which  had  suffered  through  the 
loss  of  so  many  industrious  subjects,  were  ruined  ;  and 
the  haughty  monarch  was  compelled  to  sign  an 
ignominious  peace.  Broken-hearted  by  his  reverses, 
he  died  in  1715,  when  he  was  vainly  seeking  to  strike 
a  blow  at  Britain  by  the  secret  favour  he  gave  to  the 
Jacobite  insurrection  under  Mar.  Seldom  can  the 
retributive  hand  of  God's  providence  be  traced  more 
strikingly  in  cause  and  effect  within  the  compass  of 
one  life. 

But  the  influence  of  the  Revocation  has  reached 
beyond  that  life  into  the  national  history  of  France. 
The  exile  of  the  Protestants,  and  the  temporary 
extinction  of  the  Eeformation,  left  Piomanism  as  the 
sole  and  powerfully  dominant  religion  of  the  French 
people.  This  result,  gained  by  so  many  crimes,  and 
boasted  of  as  a  triumph,  proved  disastrous  both  to 
relio'ion  and  the  State.  The  Protestants  had  been  a 
living  force  in  the  nation,  which  kept  a  large  mass  of 
the  intelligent  classes  attached  to  religion,  and  thereby 


RE  VO  CA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES.     5  7 

to  civil  right  and  order.  There  must  always  be  a 
number  of  men  in  every  country  who  refuse  to  submit 
their  reason  to  any  religion  the  State  chooses  to 
impose,  and  who  distrust  it  on  the  very  ground  that  it 
is  State -privileged  and  salaried.  If  religion  is  to 
have  weight  with  them  in  favour  of  civil  order,  it 
must  be  above  the  suspicion  of  Government  subsidies. 
Accordingly  much  of  the  intellect  of  France,  which 
might  have  remained  Christian,  became  sceptical  and 
destructively  critical.  The  Church  of  Eome,  mean- 
while, lost  not  only  its  race  of  great  orators,  who 
had  been  stirred  to  rivalry  by  Protestantism,  but  also 
its  moral  life,  and  it  found  that  convenient  pillow 
which  is  so  often  near  the  head  of  a  State  Church 
when  there  is  nothing  outside  to  disturb  it.  After 
the  suppression  of  Protestantism  and  Jansenism,  the 
whole  field  belonged  to  the  Jesuits,  and  they  were  as 
indulgent  to  royal  and  aristocratic  vice  as  it  could 
desire,  or  as  Pascal  could  portray.  Louis  XIV.  was 
succeeded  by  his  great-grandson  Louis  XV.,  and  his 
sensual  excesses  and  w-asteful  extravagances  could  be 
paralleled  only  by  the  Tiberiuses  and  Caligulas  of  the 
Koman  Empire ;  while  what  of  conscience  he  had  was 
soothed  by  the  unbelieving  and  voluptuous  abbes  who 
fluttered  round  his  court.  Senseless  and  shameless 
luxury,  rapidly  growing  taxation,  unsuccessful  wars, 
were  subjected  to  the  eyes  of  a  new  set  of  critics. 
For  the  God-fearing  Huguenots,  who  had  a  cure  in 
their  hands,  there  were  Voltaire,  Diderot,  D'Alembert, 


58     REVO CA TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES. 

and  the  men  of  the  Encyclopaedia,  who  tore  open  the 
wounds  of  the  State,  and  tore  off  at  the  same  time, 
in  bitter  scorn,  the  mask  from  the  only  Christianity 
which  the  Ee vocation  had  left  them.  Then  came  the 
weak,  respectable  Louis  XVI.  and  the  great  Eevolu- 
tion,  to  which  the  century  from  1685  to  1789  was 
tlie  stride  of  an  earthquake.  We  all  know  what  has 
followed :  the  repeated  oscillation  for  another  cen- 
tury between  superstition  and  atheism,  despotism  and 
anarchy,  and  the  heroic  efforts  of  noble  men  to  step  in 
between  the  living  and  the  dead  and  stay  the  plague. 
We  are  in  one  of  these  intervals,  ^lay  God  prosper 
it  for  a  happy  issue ;  but,  whatever  may  come  of  it, 
France  has  suffered  irreparable  loss.  Let  us  glance 
at  this  last. 

Up  till  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  France  had  the 
prospect  of  becoming  the  greatest  commercial  and 
colonial  power  in  Europe.  It  had  a  splendid 
position  on  the  two  main  seas  of  the  Old  World,  a  rich 
soil  and  beautiful  climate,  capable  of  the  most  varied 
productions,  and  a  numerous,  ingenious,  and  industrious 
population.  Whatever  we  may  say  now  of  French 
inability  to  colonize,  it  does  not  seem  applicable  to 
that  period.  Coligny,  the  most  illustrious  victim  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  had  a  matured  plan  for  colonization 
in  North  America,  which  would  have  founded  a  great 
French  Protestant  State,  instead  of  the  British  Puritan 
one — an  empire  of  free  exiles  in  a  new  world.  His 
death   checked  it ;    but,  even    after  this,  the   French 


REVOCATION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES.     59 

had  Nova  Scotia  and  all  the  lands  round  the  mouth 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  Canada,  the  great  valley  of  the 
Mississippi  from  its  head  to  Louisiana,  the  larger  part 
of  the  West  Indies,  with  the  commanding  points  in 
India  and  the  Eastern  Ocean.  After  the  Revocation 
she  lost  her  internal  resources,  and  the  very  best 
material  for  colonization  w^as  transferred  to  other 
countries ;  internal  troubles  engrossed  and  convulsed 
her ;  foreign  wars  cut  her  off  from  her  possessions 
beyond  the  seas,  till,  stripped  of  them  one  by  one, 
almost  nothing  remained  but  France  itself.  Spasmodic 
attempts  are  being  made  to  recover  ground,  but  the 
lands  favourable  for  colonies,  and  the  strategic  points 
which  control  the  world's  future,  are  in  the  possession 
of  another  race  and  language.  French  cannot  now 
become  the  tongue  of  the  empires  that  are  to  rule 
tlie  destinies  of  the  American  continent  and  the 
southern  hemisphere,  and  that  are  to  operate,  by 
civilizing  and  Christianizing  influences,  on  the  south 
and  east  of  the  vast  world  of  Asia.  Nearly  one 
hundred  millions  of  people  already  speak  the  English 
language,  and,  if  there  is  anything  certain  in  the 
world's  future,  it  will  be  spoken  by  hundreds  of 
millions,  and  will  carry  with  it  the  laws  and  literature 
of  Britain,  and  the  prevalence  of  that  religion  which 
Louis  XIV.  and  Innocent  XL  sought  to  banish  from 
the  soil  of  France.  But  is  there  not  yet  room  and 
work  in  the  world  for  France  ?  Who  does  not  hope 
and  pray   that  there   may  be  ?     The  finest  soil   and 


6o    l^EVO CA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES. 

climate  are  yet  hers.     She  has  a  people   richly  and 

singularly  gifted,  with  a  penetrating  genius,  a  bright 

intelligence,  a  precise  and  beautiful  expression  in  the 

forms   of    thought    and    art.     Every    country  in   the 

world  has  been  her  debtor,  and  we  not  least,  even  in 

this  very  act,  when,  through  the  folly  of  her  king  and 

her   own   blindness,  she   enriched    us  with    her   best 

heart's  blood.     Nor  let  us  imagine  the  French  people 

hopelessly  frivolous  and  irreligious.     The  struggles  we 

have  glanced  at  show  the  reverse.    France  has  had  its 

long  line  of  heroes,  of  saints,  of  martyrs,  unsurpassed,  if 

indeed  equalled,  by  any  other  nation.     And  still  the 

blood   is  not  only  in  the   crimsoned    soil,  but  in  the 

veins  of  Frenchmen,  and  is  giving  token  that  it  is  in 

sympathy   with  that   which   was    shed   so   freely   for 

truth   and  freedom   on   many  a  scaffold.      The   blood 

which  cries  out   of   the  ground,  and  from   under  the 

altar,  is  finding  here   and   there   an  answer  in  souls 

which  cannot  live   in   the  barren  deserts   of  atheism 

and  materialism.      The  French  Protestant  Church  has, 

within     the    past    generation,    given    to    Christianity 

names    of    faith    and    learning    and   missionary    zeal 

beyond  all  proportion  to  its  numbers  ;  and,  if  the  hearts 

of  the  children  were  once  more  turned  to  the  fathers, 

there  is  almost  nothing  too  high  to   expect   from  the 

French  enthusiasm  for  great  ideas,  and  French  energy 

for  arduous  enterprises.     The  late  magnificent  meeting 

in  the  Oratoire    at    Paris   in   commemoration   of  the 

Eevocation,   and   the    noble    utterances    of    men   like 


RE  VO  CA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES.     6 1 

Pressense  and  Bersier,  responded  to  Ly  an  immense 
audience,  show  that  Protestantism  is  full  of  courage 
and  hope.  Nothing  of  this  kind  was  possible,  either 
in  spirit  or  circumstances,  a  century  ago.  The  news 
from  various  districts  since  tell  of  the  memorial 
meetings  turning  into  revival  movements,  and  of 
interest  in  them  extending  through  the  general  popula- 
tion. By  many  signs  we  can  infer  that  France  is 
once  more  at  a  time  of  decision  on  which  her  future 
hangs ;  and  those  who  are  best  acquainted  with  her 
condition  seem  to  agree  that,  beneath  the  widespread 
and  obtrusive  scepticism,  there  is  a  feeling  after  a 
spiritual  faith,  which  gives  promise  that  God  is  about 
'in  the  midst  of  the  years  to  make  known,  and  in 
wrath  to  remember  mercy.' 

For  ourselves,  we  have  some  things  to  learn. 
John  Henry  Newman,  in  his  Apolofjia,  gives  as  the 
two  final  determining  causes  which  carried  him  over 
to  the  Church  of  Ptome — first,  the  principle  involved 
in  the  Donatist  controversy,  and,  next,  the  election  of 
a  Protestant  bishop  to  the  see  of  Jerusalem.  That 
deeply  devout  and  keenly  subtle  mind  was  able  to 
retire  into  a  mystic  cell,  and  to  weave  across  its  mouth 
a  fine  dialectic  web  which  concealed  the  broad  and 
open  issues  of  the  question.  There  are  such  minds, 
honest  to  themselves,  but  the  captives  of  their  own 
peculiar  strength.  What  an  escape  it  is  to  rest  the 
case  on  the  broad  page  of  the  Bible  and  the  clear 
utterance  of  history,  two  witnesses  which  the  Church 


62     REVOCATION  OF  EDICT  OP  NANTES. 

of  Eome  has  always  sought  to  keep  under  her  own  lock 
and  key !  If  any  one  would  know  what  she  has  been 
and  would  be  again,  for  she  has  never  renounced  her 
past,  let  him  study  the  records  of  Spain  and  the 
Netherlands,  of  Italy  while  the  Pope  had  full  control ; 
let  him  put  the  Swiss  Protestant  Cantons  over  against 
the  Piomish,  the  South  American  States  against  the 
great  Northern  Piepublic,  Lower  Canada  against 
Upper,  or  any  country  where  Eomanism  has  long  had 
entire  control  against  those  which  have  been  free 
from  it,  and  he  will  have  an  argument  spread  over 
space  and  time  which  it  will  take  a  good  many 
casuists  to  answer.  One  of  Louis  XIV.'s  confessors 
pressed  a  Protestant  to  conform,  '  because,  unless  the 
king's  religion  were  true,  God  would  never  have  made 
him  so  powerful.'  It  is  a  good  argument  if  it  be 
allowed  time  to  work  out  its  conclusions.  '  By 
tlieir  fruits  ye  shall  know  them.'  St.  Bartholomew 
and  the  Ptcvocation,  once  chanted  by  the  Piomish 
clergy  as  triumphs,  are  now  passed  over  with  a 
prudent  reticence.  But  we  shall  indeed  be  smitten 
with  what  Milton  calls  a  '  dazzling  blindness  at  mid- 
day,' if  we  do  not  beware  of  that  tyranny  and  craft 
which  led  one  of  the  finest  nations  in  Europe  to  the 
brink  of  atheism  and  ruin,  and  which  are  persistently 
straining  every  nerve  to  gain  points  of  advantage 
which  may  restore  their  rule  over  ourselves.  There 
are  some  who  tell  us  that  the  way  to  prevent  this  is 
to  maintain  strong  Protestant   State   Churches.     This 


RE  VO CA  TION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES.     (^^ 

at  a  time  when  the  largest  of  tliese  Churches  is  the 
most  successful  recruiting  field  for  Eomish  conversions, 
and  when  the  existence  of  any  Protestant  State  Church 
is  the  ground  for  increasing  demands  on  the  British 
treasury,  and  when  it  will  furnish  a  plea,  ere  very 
long,  on  the  basis  of  political  justice,  for  a  Eoman 
Catholic  Establishment  in  Ireland — a  plea  which,  in 
the  present  temper  of  our  statesmen,  they  seem  too 
likely  to  grant.  The  policy  of  the  great  Eobert 
Bruce  was  not  to  leave  old  feudal  castles  standing 
which  might  become  the  stronghold  of  the  invader. 
Freedom  and  truth  fight  their  battle  best  in  the  open 
field.  Let  this  be  added,  that  these  Protestant  State 
Churches  are  the  most  fruitful  cause  of  heart-burning 
and  discord  among  Protestants  themselves,  and  have 
divided  us,  politically  and  socially,  all  along  tlie  line 
into  two  nations — the  Established  and  Nonconforming. 
What  the  interference  of  the  civil  power  did  in  France, 
when  it  took  sides  between  Romanist  and  Huguenot, 
it  is  doing  again,  in  its  measure,  among  ourselves. 
It  is  surely  full  time  for  us  to  learn  that  peace  can 
follow  only  in  the  track  of  justice,  and  that  the 
Government  sword,  in  any  form,  thrust  into  the  domain 
of  conscience,  is  a  constant  peril  to  true  religion,  and  a 
detriment  to  the  best  interests  of  the  State. 


THE  ERSKINES:  EBENEZEB  AND  RALPH. 

The  two  brothers,  Ebenezer  and  Ealpli  Erskine,  lead 
us  to  the  origin  of  tlie  Secession  Church,  one  of  the 
branches  of  what  is  now  known  as  the  United  Pres- 
byterian. We  may  mention,  for  the  sake  of  the 
general  reader,  that  the  other  branch  of  that  Church, 
the  Eelief,  had  its  own  founder,  Thomas  Gillespie, 
second  to  none  in  his  day  for  sincerity  of  heart  and 
elevation  of  character ;  and  that,  besides  Ebenezer 
Erskine,  there  were,  at  the  immediate  origin  of  the 
Secession,  three  other  men  of  much  force  and  indi- 
viduality,— William  Wilson,  Alexander  Moncrieff,  and 
James  Eisher, — thus  parting  the  parent  stream,  like 
a  more  ancient  river,  into  four  heads.  At  present, 
we  shall  confine  our  notice  to  the  two  Erskines, 
including  brief  ulances  at  the  men  around  them,  and 
the  events  that  have  followed,  so  far  as  suggested  liy 
their  work. 

The  Erskines  were  from  several  causes  urged  into  a 
more  prominent  place,  and  tliey  have,  through  their 
writings,  left  us  means  of  forming  a  more  distinct 
estimate  of  their  relation   to  tlicir  time,  and  of  their 


I 


THE  ERSKINES.  65 

bearing  on  the  religious  history  of  Scotland.  Tliey 
belonged  to  an  old  and  honourable  family  that  draws 
its  name  from  the  parish  of  Erskine  on  the  Clyde, 
Ir-isgin,  the,  green  mound,  and  that  carries  them  to 
the  seat  of  the  ancient  British  stock  which  fixed  its 
names  on  the  soil,  and  lingered  there  to  the  dawn  of 
written  Scottish  history.  One  of  the  family  took  a 
foremost  place  in  the  Reformation,  when,  along  with 
Argyle  and  Glencairu,  in  1557,  Erskine  of  Dun  sub- 
scribed the  Godly  Band,  or,  as  we  should  now  call  it, 
the  Eeligious  Bond,  and  became  one  of  the  Lords  of 
the  Congregation.  The  branch  of  the  family  to  which 
the  fathers  of  the  Secession  belonged  was  the  Erskines 
of  Shieltield,  near  Dryburgh,  and  their  father  was 
Henry  Erskine,  a  minister  whose  life  was  passed  in 
the  most  troublous  times  of  Scottish  Church  History. 
He  was  settled  at  Cornhill,  in  Northumberland,  and 
was  one  of  the  Nonconformists  ejected  on  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's Day,  1GG2.  He  removed  into  Scotland, 
and  suffered  fine,  imprisonment,  and  exile  under  the 
Episcopal  domination  of  the  time.  After  the  Eevo- 
lution,  he  became  minister  of  Whitsome,  and  then  of 
Chirnside,  in  Berwickshire,  where  he  died  in  169G  ; 
and  it  was  under  his  ministry  that  the  famous  Thomas 
Boston  received  his  first  religious  impressions.  His 
death  was  as  remarkable  as  his  life  for  its  Christian 
faith,  and  made  such  an  impression  on  his  two  sons 
that  they  often  .spoke  of  it  afterwards  as  that  which 

determined  their   religious  character.     The  mother  of 

E 


66  THE  ERSKINES. 

Ebenezer  and  Ealph  was  Margaret  Halcro,  from  Orkney, 
of  Scandinavian  lineage,  descended  from  Halcro,  Prince 
of  Denmark,  and  springing,  not  very  remotely,  from 
the  Stuart  line,  by  a  grand-daughter  of  James  V. 
Those  who  believe  in  the  influence  of  blood  might 
find  a  curious  union  of  the  Celtic  fervour  and  the 
Xorse  resolution  in  these  fatliers  of  tlie  Secession. 

Ebenezer,  the  elder  brother,  was  born  at  Dryburgh. 
A  fragment  of  the  house  occupied  by  his  father  is 
pointed  out,  not  far  from  the  venerable  Abbey  which 
so  many  visit  to  see  the  last  resting-place  of  Sir 
AValter  Scott,  looking  down  on  '  Tweed's  fair  flood  and 
all  o'er  Teviotdale.'  The  year  of  his  birth  was  1680, 
the  time  of  the  Queensferry  Paper  and  Sanquhar 
Declaration,  and  other  appeals  to  God  and  man  uplifted 
by  the  almost  despairing  remnant  that  stood  at  bay 
after  Bothwell,  and  that  were  afterwards  cast  into  the 
hottest  of  the  furnace,  known  by  the  persecuted  as 
'  the  killing  time.'  It  was  just  a  hundred  years  later, 
in  1780,  when  Moderatism  was  darkest,  that  Thomas 
Chalmers  was  born,  as  if  God's  witnesses,  and  the 
Church's  children  of  revival,  came  into  the  world  at 
the  hour  of  midnight. 

He  was  educated  at  the  University  of  Edinburgh, 
to  which  he  went  when  only  fourteen ;  but  he  studied 
for  nine  years,  five  in  classics  and  philosophy  and 
four  in  theology.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  when 
twenty-three  years  of  age,  by  the  Presbytery  of  Kirk- 
caldy, and  settled  in  1703  at  Portmoak,  a  quiet  rural 


THE  ERSKINES.  67 

parish  at  the  foot  of  the  twin  Lomonds,  and  skirting 
the  shore  of  the  picturesque  Lochleven.  An  island 
close  by  had  been  the  seat  of  the  Culdees,  another  had 
been  the  prison-house  of  Mary,  and  in  the  cleft  of  the 
hills  John  Knox  had  preached  and  dispensed  the  sacra- 
ment. The  time  also  was  full  of  room  for  thought. 
It  was  shaking  with  the  heave  of  the  Pievolution  ;  the 
rumours  of  Jacobite  plots  filled  the  air  ;  William  III. 
had  just  died ;  Anne  reigned  in  his  stead,  to  the  great 
joy  of  the  High  Church  party ;  and  the  hope  was 
strong  of  first  depriving  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  its 
freedom,  and  then  of  replacing  it  by  the  Church  of  the 
Charleses  and  Jameses.  Carstares,  the  father  of  the 
Pievolution  Settlement,  had  left  London  when  he  could 
be  no  longer  useful,  and  came  down  to  Edinburgh  in 
this  year,  1703,  to  preside  over  an  Assembly  full  of 
alarms  and  forebodings.  These  things  could  not  fail 
to  exercise  the  mind  of  Ebenezer  Erskine,  and  help  to 
form  his  views,  but  the  result  came  out  afterwards. 

At  first  he  seems  to  have  been  occupied  chiefly 
with  his  ministerial  work,  and  to  have  felt  considerable 
difficulty  in  it.  His  settlement  took  place  heartily  in 
accordance  with  the  law  of  the  time,  which  was  a  call 
from  the  heritors  and  elders,  with  the  concurrence  of 
the  parishioners,  corresponding  to  the  state  of  things 
which  Dr.  Chalmers  wished  to  restore  by  his  celebrated 
Veto  Act.  But,  though  the  concurrence  was  given, 
there  appears  to  have  been  little  active  interest.  His 
sermons    were    committed    closely    to    memory,    and 


68  I'HE  ERSKINES. 

repeated,  for  reading  was  then  out  of  the  question. 
Yet,  from  the  fault  either  of  his  memory  or  feeling,  he 
had  such  difficulty  in  preserving  his  line  of  thought, 
that,  unless  he  kept  his  eyes  fixed  on  a  particular 
stone  in  the  wall  ojDposite,  he  was  in  terror  lest  he 
should  break  down.  But,  by  degrees,  freedom  and 
warmth  came  to  him,  and  so  perceptibly  that  the 
hearers  experienced  a  new  impression.  The  reason  of 
the  change  was  in  his  own  spirit.  Always  sincere  and 
earnest,  he  had  yet  known  God's  truth  more  with  the 
convincement  of  the  understanding  than  the  realization 
of  the  heart  ;  and  a  natural  consequence  was,  that  its 
freeness  and  fulness,  as  it  gathers  round  Christ,  were 
not  clear  to  him.  He  had  married  a  woman  of  great 
intelligence  and  spirituality,  Alison  Turpie,  who  fell 
into  a  depressed  state  of  mind.  In  dealing  with  this 
he  was  led  to  more  distinct  views  of  the  Gospel,  and 
her  remarkable  character  became  a  stimulatintr  inliu- 
ence  in  his  life.  His  memory  was  quickened  and 
flooded  by  his  heart,  and  his  constrained  manner 
changed  into  ease  and  vigour.  He  had  the  external 
advantages  of  a  public  speaker  in  liis  appearance  and 
voice  and  native  dignitv  of  bearincr  ;  but  the  new 
jjower  of  his  preaching  lay  in  the  conviction  he  had 
gained  of  evangelical  truth,  and  in  the  central  place  he 
gave  it  in  his  message.  His  own  people  were  roused 
to  unwonted  attention.  Note-taking  became  a  pre- 
valent practice,  and  he  sought  to  guide  them  in  it  by 
the  way  in  which  lie  arranged  and  announced  his  plan 


THE  ERSKINES.  69 

of  discourses.  The  praise  of  the  church  took  wing 
witli  such  fervour  that  one  of  the  narrators  says, — 
'  Never  can  I  hear  such  delightful  melody  till  I  get  to 
heaven.'  A  Thursday  lecture  was  commenced,  for 
which  masters  and  servants  prepared  their  affairs  so  as 
to  be  present  ;  and  large  audiences  attended  the  diets 
of  examination,  which  were  schools  of  theology  for  the 
people,  and  the  absence  of  which  has  not  found  any 
proper  compensation  in  our  times.  If,  in  some  free 
way,  there  could  be  still  the  '  hearing  and  asking 
questions,'  which  has  so  high  an  ancestry,  it  might  help 
to  repair  the  broken  religious  knowledge  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church.  Bible  instruction,  as  much  as  spiritual 
impression,  is  a  want  of  the  day,  and  the  one  cannot 
be  powerful  without  the  other.  By  all  these  means 
there  was  a  revival  of  the  most  healthful  kind  in  the 
parish  of  Portmoak,  and  it  spread  to  the  districts 
round  about.  There  were  certain  centres  to  which  the 
people  of  Scotland  at  that  time  gathered  to  attend 
the  sacraments,  and  Ebenezer  Erskine's  parish  became 
one  of  them.  They  came  flocking  in  thousands,  some 
of  them  from  a  distance  of  sixty  miles.  We  can  now 
form  little  idea  (at  least,  we  in  the  south  of  Scotland) 
of  these  great  occasions,  to  which  they  looked  forward, 
as  the  ancient  Israelites  did  to  their  seasons  of  pilgrim- 
age, and  for  which  the  people  of  the  places  visited 
made  preparation  in  their  houses  and  '  meal  girnels ' 
against  the  inflow  of  sojourners.  No  doubt  they 
became  subject   to   abuse   in   the  decline  of  religious 


70  THE  ERSKINES. 

feeling  at  the  close  of  the  last  century ;  but  at  an 
earlier  period  they  were  seasons  of  special  quickening 
and  ingathering  to  the  churches.  There  are  few  finer 
things  than  the  description  given  by  Blackadder  of  one 
of  these  open-air  assemblies  in  the  Merse,  in  the  time 
of  persecution,  when  3,200  conmiunicated ;  and,  for 
the  light  it  throws  even  on  later  times,  we  shall  quote 
a  portion  of  it. 

'  They  had  to  place  picquets  of  horsemen  towards 
the  suspected  parts,  and  single  horsemen  at  greater 
distances,  to  give  warning,  for  the  Earl  of  Hume,  as 
ramp  a  youth  as  any  in  the  country,  had  threatened  to 
assault  the  meeting  with  his  men  and  militia,  and  to 
make  their  horses  drink  the  communion  wine  and 
trample  the  sacred  elements  under  foot.'  '  Every 
means,'  Blackadder  continues,  '  was  taken  to  compose 
the  multitude,  and  prevent  any  affront  that  might  be 
offered  to  so  solemn  and  sacred  a  work,  when  they  had 
to  stay  three  days  together,  sojourning  hy  the  lions' 
dens  and  the  mountains  of  the  IcojKirds.  .  .  .  The  place 
where  we  convened  seemed  to  have  been  formed  on 
purpose.  It  was  a  green  and  pleasant  haugh,  fast  by 
the  water  side  (the  Whitadder).  On  either  hand  there 
was  a  spacious  brae,  in  form  of  a  half-round,  covered 
with  delightful  pasture,  and  rising  with  a  gentle  slope 
to  a  goodly  height.  Above  us  was  the  clear  blue  sky, 
for  it  was  a  sweet  and  calm  Sabbath  morning,  promis- 
ing to  be  indeed  one  of  the  days  of  the  Son  of  man. 
There  was  a  solemnity  in  the  place  befitting  the  occa- 


THE  ERSKINES.  71 

sion,  and  elevating  the  whole  soul  to  a  pure  and  holy 
frame.  The  communion  tables  were  spread  on  the 
green  by  the  water,  and  around  them  the  people  had 
arranged  themselves  in  decent  order.  But  the  far 
greater  multitude  sat  on  the  brae  -  face,  which  was 
crowded  from  top  to  bottom,  full  as  pleasant  a  sight  as 
was  ever  seen  of  that  sort.  At  first  there  was  some 
apprehension  from  enemies ;  but  the  people  sat  undis- 
turbed, and  the  whole  was  closed  in  as  orderly  a  way 
as  it  had  been  in  the  time  of  Scotland's  brightest  noon. 
And  truly  the  spectacle  of  so  many  grave,  composed, 
and  devout  faces  must  have  struck  the  adversaries 
with  awe,  and  been  more  formidable  than  any  outward 
ability  of  fierce  looks  and  warlike  array.  AVe  desired 
not  the  countenance  of  earthly  kings ;  there  was  a 
spiritual  and  divine  majesty  shining  on  the  work,  and 
sensible  evidence  that  the  Great  Master  of  assemblies 
was  present  in  the  midst.  Though  our  vows  were  not 
offered  within  the  courts  of  God's  house,  they  wanted 
not  sincerity  of  heart,  which  is  better  than  the  rever- 
ence of  sanctuaries.  Amidst  the  lonely  mountains  we 
remembered  the  words  of  our  Lord,  that  true  worship 
was  not  peculiar  to  Jerusalem  or  Samaria,  that  the 
beauty  of  holiness  consisted  not  in  consecrated  build- 
ings or  material  temples.  We  remembered  the  ark  of 
the  Israelites,  which  had  sojourned  for  years  in  the 
desert,  with  no  dwelling-place  but  the  tabernacles  of 
the  plain.  "We  thought  of  Abraham  and  the  ancient 
patriarchs,  who  laid  their  victims  on  the  rocks  for  an 


72  THE  ERSKINES. 

altar,  and  burned  sweet  incense  nnder  the  shade  of  the 
green  tree.  In  that  day  Zion  put  on  the  beauty  of 
Sharon  and  Carmel ;  the  mountains  broke  forth  into 
singing,  and  the  desert  place  was  made  to  bud  and 
blossom  as  the  rose.  Tew  such  days  were  seen  in  the 
desolate  Church  of  Scotland,  and  few  will  ever  witness 
the  like.  There  was  a  rich  and  plentiful  effusion  of 
the  Spirit  shed  abroad  on  many  hearts.  Their  souls, 
filled  with  heavenly  transports,  seemed  to  breathe  in  a 
diviner  element,  and  to  burn  upwards,  as  with  the  fire 
of  a  pure  and  lioly  devotion.  The  ministers  were 
visibly  assisted  to  speak  home  to  the  consciences  of  the 
hearers.  It  seemed  as  if  God  had  touched  their  lips 
with  a  live  coal  from  off  his  altar,  for  they  who 
witnessed  declared  they  carried  more  like  ambassadors 
from  the  court  of  heaven  than  men  cast  in  earthly 
mould.  The  communion  was  peaceably  concluded,  all 
the  people  heartily  offering  up  their  gratitude,  and 
singing  with  a  joyful  noise  to  the  Eock  of  their  salva- 
tion. It  was  pleasant,  as  the  night  fell,  to  hear  their 
melody  swelling  in  full  unison  along  the  hill,  the  whole 
congregation  joining  with  one  accord,  and  praising  God 
with  the  voice  of  psalms.' 

We  have  given  these  extracts  at  the  greater  length 
that  the  spirit  of  these  gatherings  may  be  understood, 
so  calm  in  the  face  of  hills  and  sky,  and  yet  so  deep 
and  fervid ;  and  that  it  may  be  seen  by  what  means 
the  love  of  the  Gospel  was  preserved  in  so  many 
hearts  amid  the  persecution  of  the  seventeenth  century 


THE  ERSKINES.  73 

and  the  coldness  of  the  eighteenth.  ]\Iore  than  a 
century  after  this  communion  in  the  ]\Ierse,  Dr.  Waugh, 
speaking  of  those  of  the  Secession,  hekl  in  a  place  not 
far  distant,  says  that  '  an  angel  might  have  lingered 
on  his  errand  of  mercy  to  hear  the  Gospel  preached 
on  Stitchel  brae.' 

Year  after  year,  to  the  number  of  nearly  thirty, 
such  occasions  took  place  at  Portmoak,  and  by  their 
means,  and  his  presence  nt  otlier  places,  Ebenezer 
Erskine  exercised  an  influence  not  to  be  measured  in 
any  way  by  the  quiet  spot  where  he  lived.  In  his 
diary,  in  1714,  he  speaks  of  a  Sabbath  before  the 
sacrament,  wlien  already,  in  expectation  of  the  event, 
there  was  a  great  company  of  people  assembled,  so 
that  he  was  oljliged  to  preach  in  the  open  field.  '  I 
was,'  he  says,  '  under  great  fear  as  to  my  through- 
bearing  in  the  work  of  the  day,  before  I  went  forth  to 
public  worship,  which  put  me  to  my  knees.  But  the 
Lord  was  pleased  graciously  to  hear  and  pity,  for  I 
never  remember  that  I  had  more  freedom  in  my  life 
than  this  day  in  delivering  my  Master's  message.  The 
Lord  gave  me  a  composure  of  mind,  and  suggested 
many  things  to  me  in  speaking  which  I  had  not  so 
much  as  thought  on  before.  The  people  heard  with  a 
great  deal  of  greediness  and  attention,  so  as  if  they 
would  have  drawn  the  word  out  of  me.  I  have  heard, 
since  the  sermon  was  over,  that  some  were  made  to  go 
home  with  vehement  longings  after  Christ.'  He 
remained  in   Portmoak   till   the   year   1731,  notwith- 


74  THE  ER SEINES, 

standing  several  strong  attempts  to  remove  him  to 
larger  spheres.  During  all  this  time  his  name  was 
becoming  more  widely  known,  and  his  influence  was 
increasing.  His  character  had  also  deepened  through 
severe  family  afflictions.  Child  after  child  was  taken, 
and  his  wife  in  1720.  The  intercourse  between  him 
and  his  brother  Ealpli  is,  at  this  time,  of  a  peculiarly 
touching  kind,  and  his  manner  of  thought  and  speech 
may  be  learned  by  an  extract  from  a  letter  in  the 
midst  of  these  trials. 

'  How  sweet  a  balance  may  it  be  to  our  spirits 
under  the  loss  of  such  dear  relations,  to  think  of  the 
heartsome  work  they  are  employed  in,  the  heartsome 
company  they  are  joined  to,  and  the  lightsome  house 
of  many  mansions  wherein  they  dwell,  not  as  pas- 
sengers, but  as  pillars  that  shall  go  no  more  out.  Let 
us  u'p  with  our  drooping  hearts ;  for  the  same  chariot 
that  carried  our  worthy  friends  to  glory,  where  they 
walk  with  Christ  in  white,  will  speedily  return  to 
fetch  us  also ;  and,  though  they  and  we  drop  the 
mantle  of  the  body  in  the  passage,  yet  we  shall  receive 
it  again  with  advantage  in  the  morning  of  the  resur- 
rection, when  these  vile  bodies  shall  be  made  like  unto 
the  glorious  body  of  the  Lord  Jesus.' 

In  1731  he  received  a  call  to  Stirling,  to  the 
church  which  had  been  occupied  by  James  Guthrie, 
one  of  the  most  courageous  ministers  of  his  time,  and 
the  first  of  those  who  suffered  martyrdom  after  the 
restoration  of  Charles  XL      The  call   was  left  to  the 


THE  ERSKINES.  75 

decision  of  the  presbytery,  and  lie  was  sent  to  Stirling. 
So  strong  was  the  attachment  of  his  people  at  Port- 
moak  that  some  of  them  removed  their  residence  to 
enjoy  a  continuance  of  his  ministry.  His  entrance  on 
his  new  work  promised  a  large  increase  of  usefulness, 
but  it  was  to  be  in  another  way  than  was  anticipated  ; 
and  the  training  in  trial  and  obscurity  was  to  be,  in 
the  language  of  the  prophet,  '  a  hiding  in  the  shadow 
of  God's  hand,  to  make  him  a  polished  shaft.'  In 
order  to  see  how  this  came  about,  we  must  look 
back. 

John  Livingstone,  in  his  interesting  letters,  tells  of 
an  old  Covenanter  who  was  so  vexed  by  the  appear- 
ance of  declension  after  the  great  year  of  1638  that 
he  said,  '  I  think  that  the  Church  of  Scotland  is  just 
like  Adam  in  Paradise,  that  cannot  continue  in  integrity 
a  moment.'  It  is  probably  as  true  of  other  Churches 
as  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  it  is  some  ground  of 
consolation  that  times  of  declension  have  always  had 
their  witnesses,  and  also  their  revivals.  It  might  have 
been  thought  that,  after  the  heavy  hand  of  perse- 
cution was  removed  in  1688,  there  would  have  been 
a  long  and  happy  period  of  religious  progress.  But  it 
was  not  so,  and  there  were  causes  for  it.  At  the 
restoration  of  Charles  II.,  four  hundred  of  the  most 
devoted  ministers  were  expelled  from  their  charges, 
and  their  places  supplied  by  a  time-serving,  ignorant, 
and  often  immoral  class  of  clergy.  This  character  is 
given  to  them  by  men  who  were  not  their  opponents. 


76  THE  ERSKINES. 

Worthy  men  remained  among  '  the  indulged,'  but  they 
were  compromised  by  their  position,  and  unable  or 
afraid  to  take  a  decided  stand.  For  twenty-eight  long 
years  the  withering  curse  of  an  inefficient  clergy  lay 
on  a  great  part  of  Scotland,  and  a  whole  generation 
grew  up  under  it ;  for,  though  the  Gospel  was  faithfully 
preached  on  the  hills  and  the  scaffolds,  it  only  reached 
a  limited  number.  When  the  Eevolution  came,  only 
sixty  of  the  ejected  ministers  remained ;  and  those 
who  had  filled  the  vacant  charges  were  most  of  them 
willing  to  retain  place  and  pay  by  compliance.  It  is  a 
question  whether  some  parts  of  Scotland  ever  recovered 
fully  the  blight  of  that  time,  and  it  has  been  felt 
most  where  the  faithfulness  of  the  Covenant  men  left 
the  greatest  number  of  empty  pulpits.  In  consequence 
of  this,  the  old  struggle  of  the  seventeenth  century 
had  to  be  renewed  in  the  eighteenth,  with  this  favour- 
able difference,  that  the  Revolution  had  brought 
religious  liberty,  and  that  any  persecution  was  more 
social  than  political. 

There  were  two  questions  that  rose  as  the  testing 
ones  of  the  day,  and  that  touched  the  old  principles 
which  are  debated  in  every  age  under  different  forms — 
truth  and  freedom.  These  two  questions  gave  the 
])ublic  life  of  the  Erskines  and  their  friends  that 
meaning  which  thev  have  for  us.  Let  us  glance  at 
them.  The  question  of  truth  was  raised  in  the  case 
of  one  Professor  Simson  of  Glasgow,  in  1714,  whose 
teaching,  as  far  as  it  can  be  understood  through  his 


THE  ERSKINES.  77 

dim  language,  was  of  an  Arian  kind,  and  who  claimed 
to  have  the  sympathy  of  '  the  enlightened  members  of 
the  Assembly.'  With  him  tliere  was  Professor 
Campbell  of  St.  Andrews,  who,  in  defending  the 
apostles  from  what  was  beginning  to  be  esteemed 
the  odious  charge  of  enthusiasm,  denounced  such 
expressions  as  '  consulting  the  throne  of  grace,'  '  laying 
their  matters  before  the  Lord,  and  imploring  his  light 
and  direction,'  as  '  terms  of  art  much  used  by  enthu- 
siasts.' Views  entertained  by  him,  that  were  admitted 
to  strike  at  the  root  of  revealed  religion,  w^ere  condoned 
after  some  loose  explanations.  Protests  against  this 
laxity  form  part  of  the  struggle  of  the  time.  But  it 
took  another  shape,  which  had  more  lasting  effects. 
One  day  Thomas  Boston,  when  visiting  in  the  house 
of  one  of  his  people  at  Simprin,  found  a  little  old  book 
above  the  window-head,  which  he  took  down  and 
began  to  read.  It  was  a  book  that  has  become  famous 
in  Scotland,  the  Marroiu  of  Modern  Diviniti/.  It  had 
been  brought  from  England,  many  years  before,  in  the 
knapsack  of  a  soldier  who  had  fought  in  the  Common- 
wealth wars,  and  it  had  lain,  like  a  hidden  seed,  in 
that  quiet  corner.  The  book  had  been  written,  or 
rather  compiled,  by  one  Edward  Fisher,  the  son  of  an 
English  knight,  and  a  Master  of  Arts  of  Oxford.  It 
gave,  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue,  the  opinions  of  the 
leading  Eeformers,  Luther  and  Calvin,  and  of  such 
English  divines  as  Hall  and  Hooker,  on  the  doctrines 
of  grace  and  the  offer  of  the  Gospel.     The  object  of 


78  THE  ERSKINES. 

the  book  was  to  clear  away  the  barriers  which  are  so 
often  raised  betw^een  the  sinner  and  Christ,  in  the 
shape  of  certain  conditions, — such  as  repentance  or 
some  degree  of  outward  or  inward  reformation, — and 
to  present  Him  immediately  with  the  words,  '  Whoso- 
ever will,  let  him  come,'  assured  that,  in  heartily 
receiving  Christ,  full  repentance  and  a  new  life  will 
follow.  The  system  of  Neonomianism,  as  it  was  called, 
which  changed  the  Gospel  into  a  modified  and  easier 
kind  of  law,  had  grown  up  in  Scotland,  as  elsewhere, 
and  this  little  book  became  the  instrument  of  a  revival 
of  clearer  and  fuller  Gospel  preaching.  It  did  what 
the  discovery  of  Luther  on  the  Galatians  in  the  house 
of  a  country  schoolmaster  has  done  for  Sweden  of  late 
years,  or,  to  use  a  Scripture  figure,  what  the  bones  of 
Elisha  did  for  the  body  of  the  man  cast  into  his 
sepulchre,  when  '  he  revived  and  stood  up  on  his  feet.' 
Such  remarkable  instances  of  the  vitality  of  truth  over 
the  graves  of  prophets  and  preachers  occur  ever  and 
again  in  the  history  of  the  Church.  Boston  tells  us 
that  he  'rejoiced  in  the  book  as  a  light  which  the 
Lord  had  seasonably  struck  uj)  to  liim  in  his  darkness, 
that  he  digested  its  doctrine  and  began  to  preach  it.' 
Through  him  it  found  its  way  into  the  hands  of  James 
Hog  of  Carnock,  who  republished  it,  with  a  recom- 
mendation, in  1717.  It  attracted  the  attention  of  a 
number  in  the  Assembly,  and  especially  of  Principal 
Haddow  of  St.  Andrews,  who  instituted  a  prosecution 
against  its   friends   as   guilty   of    Antinomian    errors. 


THE  ERSKINES.  79 

After  much  controversy,  twelve  ministers  who  held  to 
the  views  so  stigmatized  were  condemned  to  be  rebuked 
and  admonished  at  the  bar,  and  narrowly  escaped 
deposition.  The  whole  discussion  was  finding  its 
counterpart  at  the  same  time  in  Germany,  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  Pietists,  Spener  and  Francke,  by 
the  cold,  formal  orthodoxy  of  the  period, — for  the  tides 
of  Church  life  in  different  countries  have  always  a 
connection.  It  was  a  tendency  to  exalt  the  moral 
side  of  the  Bible  at  the  expense  of  the  evangelical, 
which  led  to  a  system  of  naturalism,  and  in  the  end 
deprived  morality  itself  of  the  deep  meaning  and 
motives  that  distinguish  Christianity  from  a  rational- 
ized paganism.  Looked  at  from  our  time,  the  anti- 
evangelical  growth  within  the  Scottish  Church  was 
part  of  that  wide  movement  which  produced  tlie 
latitudinarianism  of  the  Church  of  England,  weakened 
the  spirit  of  Nonconformity,  brought  down  the  old 
Presbyterianism  of  the  Puritans,  first  to  Pelagianism, 
and  then  to  Socinianism,  and  in  Germany  led  to  the 
long  reign  of  Eationalism  which  Pietism  retarded  but 
did  not  prevent.  The  importance  of  this  survey  to 
our  sketch  will  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  Ebenezer  and 
Ealph  Erskine  were  prominent  supporters  of  the 
'  Marrow '  theology,  that  Ebenezer  drew  up  the  repre- 
sentation of  its  principles  which  was  condemned  by 
the  Assembly,  and  that  the  view  of  the  Gospel  con- 
tained in  it  was  the  basis  of  the  Secession  preach- 
ing, as  it  has  been   of  the  clear  and  unfettered  offer 


8o  THE  ERSKINES. 

of     Christ     in     great    seasons     of     quickening     ever 
since. 

After  the  question  of  truth,  we  come  to  that  of 
freedom,  which  has  a  closer  connection  with  it  than 
may  be  at  first  apparent.  Certainly  in  Scotland  it  is 
the  friends  of  evangelical  doctrine  who  have  always 
shown  themselves  the  friends  of  the  freedom  of 
the  Christian  people.  At  the  Eevolution,  the  choice 
of  the  minister  was  granted  to  the  congregation, 
though,  it  must  be  confessed,  in  an  imperfect  way.  In 
1712  lay  patronage  was  introduced  in  a  bill  hurriedly 
carried  through  the  British  Parliament  by  the  intrigues 
of  the  High  Church  and  Jacobite  party.  It  was  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  Treaty  of  Union,  and  the 
whole  procedure  was  treacherous  in  motive  and 
manner.  At  first  there  was  a  yearly  remonstrance  by 
the  Assembly  against  it,  but  it  ceased  as  doctrinal 
defection  set  in ;  and  ministers  began  to  be  forced, 
under  various  pretexts,  upon  unwilling  churches.  At 
last,  in  1731,  an  enactment  w^as  passed  by  which,  in 
cases  where  the  patron  declined  to  present,  the  choice 
of  the  minister  was  given  to  a  majority  of  the  heritors 
and  elders  being  Protestants,  without  regard  to  the 
will  of  the  congregation  in  any  way.  In  many  cases 
this  put  the  choice  of  the  minister  in  the  hands  of 
the  Jacobites  and  High  Church  Episcopalians ;  yet 
the  Assembly  passed  it  summarily,  in  violation  of  the 
Barrier  Act,  and  refused  to  hear  or  heed  the  protests 
lodged  n gainst  it.     During  all  this  time  the  evangelical 


THE  ERSKINES.  8i 

party  had  been  maintaining  a  weary  battle  for  popu- 
lar rights,  in  the  face  of  an  increasing  majority,  and 
now  the  door  was  closed  against  remonstrance.      It  is 

O 

always  a  dangerous  act  to  shut  a  safety  valve,  but  a 
change  was  coming  over  the  spirit  of  the  times.  Old 
Wodrow,  who  had  written  the  history  of  the  high- 
handed persecution  of  the  last  century,  describes,  in  a 
melancholy  tone,  the  flippancy  of  habits  and  super- 
ficial religious  training  of  the  ministry  of  his  time, 
and  predicts  the  evil  that  is  impending  from  a  new 
quarter.  Thomas  Boston  of  Ettrick  died  just  after 
this  Act  was  put  in  force,  and  he  finishes  his  memoirs 
in  sadness,  and  yet  in  hope.  '  I  bless  my  God  in 
Jesus  Christ  that  ever  He  made,  me  a  Christian,  and 
took  an  early  dealing  with  my  soul ;  that  ever  He 
made  me  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  gave  me  some 
insight  into  his  grace.  The  world  hath  all  along  been 
a  step-dame  to  me,  and  wheresoever  I  would  have 
attempted  to  have  nestled  in  it,  there  was  a  thorn  of 
uneasiness  laid  for  me.  Man  is  born  crying,  lives 
complaining,  and  dies  disappointed  from  that  quarter. 
I  have  waited  for  thy  salvation,  0  Lord ! ' 

Boston  died  on  the  20th  of  May,  and  in  that  same 
year,  October  10,  1732,  it  fell  to  Ebenezer  Erskine, 
as  moderator,  to  preach  the  opening  sermon  of  the 
Synod  of  Perth  and  Stirling.  It  is  another  illustra- 
tion of  a  living  witness  being  always  ready  to  take 
the  place  of  the  dead.  The  text  he  chose  was  Psalm 
cxviii,  22,  'The  stone  which    the  builders  refused  is 

F 


82  THE  ERSKINES. 

become  the  head-stone  of  the  corner.'  There  is  no 
tlistinguished  power  of  intellect  in  the  sermon  ;  the 
preacher  evidently  made  no  effort  to  reach  it.  In  a 
plain  and  fearless  way,  but  without  any  personalities, 
he  sets  forth  the  defections  of  the  time,  claims  for 
Christ  that  headship  in  the  Church  which  belongs  to 
Him,  and  for  the  people  that  liberty  which  is  their 
birthright  under  his  rule.  The  outspoken  honesty  of 
the  sermon  gave  great  offence  to  a  number  in  the 
Synod,  and  lie  was  sentenced  to  be  rebuked  and  ad- 
monished. He  appealed  to  the  Assembly,  and,  at  its 
meeting  in  May  1733,  the  conduct  of  the  Synod  was 
sustained,  and  rebuke  and  admonition  again  imposed 
on  him.  He  and  three  others,  William  Wilson  of 
Perth,  Alexander  Moncrieff  of  Abernethy,  and  James 
Fisher  of  Kinclaven,  offered  a  protest,  which,  if 
received,  would  have  relieved  conscience,  and  probably 
settled  the  matter  for  the  time.  It  was  refused,  but 
was  left  lying  on  the  table,  or  rather  accidentally  fell 
from  it,  and  was  unheeded,  till  a  fiery  member  of  the 
Court  picked  it  up  and  read  it.  Its  contents  were 
simply  a  claim,  in  respectful  terms,  to  adhere  to  the 
testimony  already  given,  but  the  reading  of  it  set  the 
Assembly  in  a  flame.  The  protestors  were  recalled, 
ordered  to  disown  it,  and,  on  declaring  that  they  could 
not,  they  were  handed  over  to  the  Commission,  with  a 
charge  that,  if  they  persisted,  they  should  be  sus- 
pended from  office,  and,  if  still  unrejientant,  visited 
with  a  yet  higher  censure.      The  case  now  went  on  its 


THE  ERSKINES.  83 

way.  When  the  Commission  met,  they  refused  to 
withdraw  their  protest,  and  were  first  suspended,  and 
then  loosed  from  the  congregations  where  they  minis- 
tered. The  ordeal  was  a  very  trying  one,  for  they 
were  compelled  to  plead  apart,  and  subjected  to  the 
strongest  urgency,  threatened  by  opponents,  and  be- 
sought by  friends  who  sympathized  with  them.  But 
the  question  was  one  of  conscience,  and  they  knew 
that  if  they  yielded  they  would  be  silenced.  There  is 
a  tradition  in  South  Queensferry  that,  when  Ebenezer 
Erskine  was  on  his  way  home  to  Stirling  from  the 
Commission,  he  stopped  to  assist  at  the  communion 
of  his  friend  James  Kidd  of  Queensferry,  who  was  one 
of  the  Marrow  men,  and  who,  though  he  did  not  join 
Erskine,  always  continued  his  warm  friend.  The  first 
psalm  given  out  by  the  silenced  minister  was — 

'  ]\Ly  closed  lips,  O  Lord,  by  Thee 

Let  them  be  opened  ; 
Then  shall  thy  praises  by  my  mouth 
Abroad  be  published.' 

The  people  at  once  saw  and  felt  the  reference,  and 
the  words  in  due  time  found  their  fulfilment.  He 
seems  to  have  had  a  curious  felicity  in  the  selection  of 
his  psalms,  of  which  another  instance  has  come  down. 
While  there  was  a  strong  current  of  feelin^  throucfh 
Scotland  in  favour  of  the  Seceders,  there  was  also  a 
keen  counter  current  that  made  itself  both  felt  and 
seen.  On  one  occasion,  when  he  was  about  to  preach 
at  a  neighbouring  town,  the   opposition  was  so  strong 


84  THE  ERSKINES. 

that  there  was  a  resolve  he  should  not  be  heard,  and 
a  mob,  with  frowning  looks,  waited  his  appearance. 
But  he  was  one  of  those  who  did  not  regard  'the 
company  of  spearmen,  the  multitude  of  the  bulls  of 
the  people,'  any  more  than  he  did  unjust  authority. 
His  calm,  dignified  look  cleared  a  way  for  him,  and  he 
gave  out  the  psalm — 

'  Against  me  though  an  host  encamp, 
My  heart  yet  fearless  is.' 

On  December   5,  1733,  the   four  brethren   met   at 
Gairney  Bridge,  near  Kinross  ;  and  there,  after  solemn 
prayer  and  counsel,  the  first  Associate  Presbytery  was 
formed.     It    was  the  fountainhead   of  the    Secession 
Church,  which,  united  with  the  Belief,  now  numbers 
above  five  hundred  congregations  in  Scotland,  has  sent 
large  detachments  to  England,  Ireland,  the  Colonies,  and 
the  United  States,  and  has  its  missions    in   the   four 
quarters  of  the  world.      Before,  however,  any  decided 
step  was  taken,  an  effort  was  made  by  the  Established 
Church  to  recall  them  to  its  fold.     The  mistake  which 
had  been  committed  was  seen,  and  the  majority,  which 
had  carried  matters  with  so  high   a  hand,  stood  aside 
to  let  the  minority  hold  out  the  olive  branch.      The 
four    suspended    ministers    were   released   from  their 
sentence,   some    obnoxious    steps   were    recalled,   and 
Ebenezer  Erskiue  was  chosen  Moderator  of  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Stirling.      But,  after  lengthened  deliberation, 
they  declined  to  go  back ;    and  the  Assembly,  having 


THE  ERSKINES.  85 

waited  for  some  time,  finally  and  formally  deposed  them 
from  the  ministry  in  1740.  This  refusal  on  their 
part  was  a  great  disappointment  and  grief  to  their 
friends  in  the  Establishment,  and  it  has  been  often 
blamed  since  by  evangelical  ministers  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland  who  admired  their  first  stand,  and  sym- 
pathized with  their  principles.  It  has  been  said  that, 
if  they  had  carried  their  zeal,  and  the  weight  of  their 
character,  to  the  help  of  the  evangelical  minority  who 
were  struggling  within  the  Cliurch,  the  defection  might 
have  been  stayed,  the  long  reign  of  Moderatism  pre- 
vented, and,  it  may  be,  the  Disruption  averted,  by  a 
^ free  reformed  Church  of  Scotland  in  union  with  the 
State.'  We  shall  not  here  discuss  the  question 
whether  such  a  vision  could  ever  become  a  reality, 
or,  if  it  could,  whether  it  would  be  desirable — we  shall 
look  at  it  in  a  way  that  requires  less  controversy. 
And  first,  I  think,  it  will  be  granted  by  fair-minded 
men  that  it  was  not  pride  or  vindictive  feeling  that 
influenced  them  in  their  refusal.  The  personal  wrong 
they  had  sustained  was  repaired,  and  honour  unasked 
offered  to  their  leader.  They  had  ties  of  friendship  in 
the  Church  that  remained  unbroken  to  the  last,  and 
they  had  in  many  respects  a  doubtful  prospect,  in 
going  forth,  as  they  largely  did,  as  pioneers  into  an 
untried  land.  They  must  have  refused  from  what 
they  believed  to  be  best  for  the  Christian  cause  in 
Scotland,  and,  if  there  was  feeling,  it  must  have  been 
Christian  feeling  as  opposed  to  the  selfishly  personal. 


86  THE  ERSKINES. 

Did  they,  then,  err  through  a  mistaken  judgment  ? 
On  the  contrary,  we  believe  they  measured  correctly 
the  spirit  of  the  time,  and  chose  wisely  the  best  way 
of  counteracting  it.  They  were  aware  that  the 
Moderate  party  had  not  changed  their  views,  but  were 
merely  holding  their  hand,  and  biding  their  time,  for 
prudential  reasons.  This  was  very  soon  proved  by  the 
course  things  took.  They  knew  that  the  root  of  the 
evil,  in  the  action  of  the  Government  to  the  Church, 
was  still  there,  and  its  removal  meanwhile  was 
beyond  their  power.  They  were  called  to  a  great 
work  of  evangelization  in  Scotland,  and  there  was  a 
tide  of  sympathy  among  masses  of  the  people  ready  to 
bear  them  on.  They  could  meet  this  only  in  the  path 
of  freedom,  unhampered  by  ecclesiastical  limits  and 
restrictions  ;  and,  if  tliey  neglected  it,  there  was  much 
doubt  if  it  would  rise  again.  The  centuries  belons: 
to  those  who  know  how  to  seize  the  hours.  Had 
they  re-entered  the  Church,  and  felt  themselves  com- 
pelled again  to  leave,  it  would  have  been  to  meet 
hesitation  and  chill  of  feeling  among  the  people.  The 
question  then  was,  whether  more  could  be  done  by  a 
few  additional  evangelicals  within  the  Church,  protest- 
ing and  working  under  constant  constraint,  or  by  a 
compact  body  outside,  free  to  move  through  the  whole 
of  Scotland,  and  to  meet  that  longing  for  the  Gospel 
which  prevailed  in  so  many  hearts.  There  are  two 
cases  that  throw  some  light  on  the  question.  The  one 
is  in  Germany,  where  the  corresponding  movement  of 


THE  ERSKINES.  87 

Spener  and  Francke  died  away  under  the  advancing 
march  of  Eationalism, — when,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  the 
history  of  the  Protestant  Church  in  that  country  might 
have  been  a  very  different  one,  if  it  had  possessed  a 
free  Evangelical  Church  that  could  have  appealed  to 
the  people  before  they  were  drugged  into  indifference. 
The  dread  of  breaking  uniformity  has  been  well-nigh 
the  ruin  of  life  and  unity.  The  other  case  is  nearer  to 
us.  "Who  can  think  that  John  Wesley  and  his  friends 
would  have  done  so  much  for  the  cause  of  Christ  in 
England,  and  throughout  the  world,  if  they  had  been 
persuaded  to  take  the  step  they  were  once  inclined  to, 
and  had  remained  in  the  Anglican  Church  ?  Long 
since,  the  ripples  would  have  closed  over  their  move- 
ment, instead  of  those  currents  that  are  finding  their 
way  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Far  from  the  Secession 
of  the  Erskines  retarding  the  return  of  evangelical  life 
in  Scotland,  we  believe  it  was  this  above  all  which 
helped  to  preserve  it  in  the  National  Church,  and 
which  stimulated  its  revival.  Had  they  gone  back,  it 
might  have  prevented  the  Disruption,  but  it  might 
have  done  it  at  the  hazard  of  something  like  decay  and 
death.  No  one  can  suppose  that  the  forecast  of  these 
issues  was  in  the  minds  of  the  men  who  had  to  make 
their  choice ;  but  there  are  inward  impulses  which  in 
God's  hand  are  in  the  place  of  eyes,  and  there  is  a 
breath  of  freedom  on  the  face  which  tells  the  w^ay  from 
prison-houses  in  the  dark.  It  is  one  thing  to  keep 
men  in,  even  with  a  good  conscience,  and  another  to 


83  THE  ERSKINES. 

bring  them  back.  The  early  spring  may  hold  the 
buds  in  bonds,  folded  and  reconciled  to  their  constraint ; 
but  when  they  have  broken  into  flower  they  cannot 
be  charmed  into  their  old  places,  for  they  know  that 
summer  is  nigh.  And  when  God  breathes  on  his 
garden,  there  are  spring-times  of  expansion  which  lead 
into  the  future  by  a  way  which  men  know  not.  At 
such  seasons  witnesses  like  Luther,  and  Knox,  and 
Whitefield,  and  Chalmers  hear  the  cry,  '  0  Zion,  that 
bringest  good  tidings,  get  thee  up  into  the  high  moun- 
tain :  lift  up  thy  voice  with  strength ;  lift  it  up,  be  not 
afraid.'  But,  to  answer  it,  they  must  hear  that  other 
word,  '  Shake  thyself  from  the  dust :  loose  thyself  from 
the  bands  of  thy  neck,  0  captive  daughter  of  Zion ! ' 
That  the  Erskines  heard  that  voice  we,  for  our  part, 
cannot  doubt. 

On  the  first  Sabbath  after  his  deposition,  in  1740, 
Ebenezer  Erskine  found  the  doors  of  the  church  and  of 
the  churchyard  made  fast  against  him  by  the  civil 
authorities,  at  the  instance  of  the  Assembly.  With 
the  pulpit  Bible  in  his  hands,  which  it  was  then  the 
custom  to  bring  from  the  manse,  and  surrounded  by  an 
immense  multitude,  he  moved  to  a  place  still  pointed 
out,  on  the  height  just  below  the  ramparts  of  Stirling 
Castle,  and  there  held  his  first  service.  It  is  a  spot 
full  of  wonderful  interest  to  the  eye  and  memory. 
The  precipitous  range  of  the  Ochils  runs  from  the 
edge  of  the  Eorth,  like  a  huge  barbican,  with  tlie  deep 
fosse  of  Menteith  behind  it,  and  beyond,  like  an  inner 


THE  ERSKINES.  89 

wall,  the  Grampian  range,  with  the  outstanding  battle- 
ments of  Ben  Ledi  and  Ben  Lomond,  the  fastnesses  of 
freedom  from  the  days  of  the  Eomans.  Seven  noted 
battlefields  can  be  counted  from  the  rock  above  :  on 
the  one  side,  Stirling  Bridge,  where  Wallace  gained  the 
victory  which  made  the  final  conquest  of  Scotland 
impossible,  and  on  the  other,  the  field  of  Bannockburn, 
which  secured  final  independence — the  two  stages  in 
all  great  conflicts,  endurance  and  triumph.  It  is  not 
out  of  keeping  to  connect  the  spiritual  struggle  with 
these  national  conflicts.  They  are  links  in  one  chain, 
and  they  rise  in  value  as  time  goes  on,  reminding  us 
of  the  promise,  '  for  brass  I  will  bring  gold  ! ' 

There  is  another  coincidence  worth  notice  that 
comes  nearer.  Eighty  years  past,  in  1660,  James 
Guthrie,  one  of  the  most  illustrious  of  our  Scottish 
martyrs,  had  preached  his  last  sermon  in  Stirling,  not 
long  before  his  execution.  His  head  was  exposed  for 
twenty-seven  years  on  the  Netherbow  port  of  Edin- 
burgh, till  Alexander  Hamilton,  a  youth  at  college, 
took  it  down  under  peril  of  his  life.  Many  years 
afterwards,  Alexander  Hamilton  was  called  to  occupy 
the  pulpit  and  manse  of  James  Guthrie.  Examining  a 
closet,  he  lighted  upon  some  old  papers  that  had  lain 
there  he  knew  not  how  long,  and  among  them  he  dis- 
covered the  manuscript  of  Guthrie's  last  sermon,  in  his 
own  hand.  Ebenezer  Erskine  came  to  be  Hamilton's 
colleague,  and,  hearing  of  the  sermon,  got  his  consent 
to  publish  it.     All  this  is   related   at  length  in  the 


90  THE  ERSKINES. 

preface,  and  the  subject  is  given — '  A  sermon  'preached 
at  Stirling  hy  Mr.  James  Gutliric,  on  the  Sabbath  day, 
in  the  forenoo7i,  iqjon  the  19th  day  of  August  1660, 
itjJon  the  22nd  verse  of  the  14th  chapter  of  Matthew. 
He  did  also  read  the  2ord  and  24:th  verses  of  the  same 
chapter;  but  had  no  occasion  to  preach  any  more:  he 
being  imprisoned  the  Thursday  tjiereafter.'  The  text  of 
Guthrie's  sermon,  thus  interrupted,  was,  '  And  straight- 
way Jesus  constrained  his  disciples  to  get  into  a  ship, 
and  to  go  before  Him  unto  the  other  side,  while  He 
sent  the  multitudes  away.'  Now  the  text  of  the  first 
sermon  which  Ebenezer  Erslcine  preached  beneath  the 
ramparts  of  Stirling,  after  his  deposition,  was  Matt, 
viii.  27,  '  But  the  men  marvelled,  saying,  What  manner 
of  man  is  tliis,  that  even  the  winds  and  the  sea  obey 
Him  ? '  There  can  be  little  doubt  that,  while  Erskine 
avoided  Guthrie's  text,  he  sought  one  kindred  to  it,  and 
thereby  intimated  his  desire  to  take  up  the  old  line  of 
witness-bearing.  It  deserves  to  be  noted  that  most,  if 
not  all,  of  the  early  fathers  of  the  movement,  sprang 
from  the  ancestry  that  had  suffered  in  the  persecuting 
time.  The  first  psalm  given  out  was  the  noble  60th, 
which  passes  through  all  the  moods  of  dismay  and 
confidence,  prayer  and  praise. 


'  O  Loiil,  Thou  hast  rejected  us, 
Anel  scattered  us  abroad  ; 
Thou  justly  hast  displeased  been  : 
Return  to  us,  O  God. 


THE  ERSKINES.  91 

And  yet  a  banner  Thou  hast  given 

To  them  who  Thee  do  fear  ; 
That  it  by  them,  because  of  truth, 

Disjilayed  may  ajipear. 

That  tiiy  beloved  people  may 

Delivered  be  from  thrall, 
Save  with  the  jaower  of  thy  right  hand. 

And  hear  me  when  I  call.'  ^ 

It  is  natural  to  pass  at  this  jjart  of  the  sketch  to  the 
other  brother,  and  the  notice  may  be  more  brief  as  it 
does  not  need  to  deal  with  the  public  matters  already 
related.  Some  have  fancifully  thought  Ebenezer  got 
his  name,  '  the  stone  of  lielp,'  from  the  Bass  Eock,  to 
the  prison  of  which  his  father  had  been  sentenced,  but 
not  committed.  It  is  much  mofe  likely  it  was  the 
expression  of  faith  in  the  midst  of  the  dark  time 
round  his  birth.  lialph  got  his  name  in  Northumber- 
land, where  it  has  been  a  common  one  from  the  time 
of  the  warlike  Percies,  and  he  owed  it  probably  to 
some  friend  of  his  father's.  He  was  born  at  Moni- 
laws,  within  the  English  border,  in  IG80,  and  was 
thus  five  years  younger  than  his  brother.  He  studied 
and  took  his  degree  at  Edinburgh,  was  licensed  to 
preach  in  1707,  and  settled  in  the  collegiate  charge  of 
Dunfermline,  where  he  spent  all  the  rest  of  his  life, 
first  as  a  minister  of  the  Established,  and  then  of  the 
Secession   Church.     Dunferndine,  like  Stirling,  has  its 

1  One  thing  more  may  be  noted,  that  the  venerable  Dr.  Hay  of 
Kinross,  as  Moderator,  gave  the  same  psalm  to  be  sung  at  the  union  of 
the  Secession  and  Relief  Churches  in  1S47,  and  thus  commenced  with 
it  the  United  Presbyterian  Church.  _ 


92  THE  ERSKINES. 

old  associations  with  the  history  of  Scotland.  Its 
romantic  dell,  and  the  eminence  overhanging  it,  made 
it  the  favourite  residence  of  our  early  kings.  It  was 
a  centre  of  civilizing  and  Christian  influence,  when 
Edinburgh  was  a  rude  fortress,  looking  down  on  woods 
and  marshes.  Malcolm  Canmore  and  the  good  Queen 
Margaret  founded  its  once  beautiful  Abbey,  ruined  by 
Edward  I.  There  they  sleep  together,  and  the  long 
line  of  their  children  ;  and  there,  too,  rests  Eobert 
Bruce,  his  ^ueen,  and  his  nephew,  the  gallant  Ean- 
dolph.  It  was  the  birthplace  also  of  monarchs,  of  the 
unfortunate  Charles  I.,  and  of  his  sister,  the  accom- 
plished and  pious  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia,  herself  dis- 
crowned, but  the  mother  of  our  present  race  of  sovereigns. 
So  much  *  gentle  kin '  could  scarcely  be  without  its 
influence,  and  the  people  of  Dunfermline  and  its 
neighbourhood  have  long  been  noted  for  their  intelli- 
gence and  public  spirit.  The  town  has  now  grown 
to  large  proportions ;  but,  even  in  Ealph  Erskine's 
ministry,  he  speaks  of  having  upwards  of  5000 
examinable  persons  in  the  congregation.  With  his 
colleague,  Mr.  James  Wardlaw,  he  visited  and  examined 
all  the  people  once  a  year.  He  preached  not 
only  on  Sabbaths,  but  throughout  the  week,  and 
had  weekly  diets  of  catechizing  for  the  young.  His 
note-books  show  that  he  had  anticipated  much  of 
what  we  think  is  modern,  and  contain  his  questions 
and  lines  of  instruction  for  the  children.  They  bear 
evidence  of  his  care  to  improve  himself  in   study  and 


THE  ERSKINES.  93 

reading — lists  of  his  favourite  authors,  theological  and 
philosophical,  arrangements  of  texts  for  all  varieties  of 
subjects,  digests  of  books  of  the  Bible,  large  portions  of 
which  he  committed  to  memory,  and  an  abridgment 
of  Hebrew  grammar  for  his  acquaintance  witli  the 
original.  There  are  expressions  of  regret  at  frequent 
interruptions  which  compelled  him  to  persist  in  read- 
ins  and  writiufj  till  midnidit,  and  sometimes  till  three 
or  four  in  the  morning.  All  through,  there  breathes 
the  most  devout  and  prayerful  spirit. 

Ealph,  as  well  as  Ebenezer,  took  a  deep  interest  in 
all  the  controversies  of  the  time,  and  he  stood  by  his 
elder  brother's  side,  though  with  an  independent 
judgment.  He  was  present  at  Gaifney  Bridge  in  1733, 
as  a  witness  of  the  formation  of  the  presbytery  there, 
but  did  not  join  it  till  1737,  and  was  deposed  along 
with  the  others  in  1740.  His  delay  arose  from  the 
hope  of  seeing  a  better  spirit  and  some  attempt  at 
reformation  in  the  Church,  but,  disappointed  in  this 
he  threw  in  his  lot  with  the  Seceding  brethren.  He 
had  not  a  little  struggle  in  carrying  out  his  determina- 
tion, for  his  colleague,  a  worthy  Christian  man,  was 
strongly  opposed,  and  a  number  of  the  elders  were  in 
doubt  ;  but  at  last  the  great  majority  of  them,  and  of 
the  people,  supported  him  in  his  resolution.  The 
communions  at  Dunfermline  had  already  been  noted 
seasons,  and  now  they  were  attended  by  still  greater 
numbers.  There  is  a  notice  of  one  of  them  in  his 
journal,  shortly  after  he  joined  the  Secession. 


94  THE  ERSKINES. 

'Sabbath,  July  10,  l7o7. — Tlie  Sacrament  was  in 
Dunfermline ;  and  I  preached  half-an-hour  before  the 
action  (service)  began,  about  half  before  eight  in  the 
morning,  upon  Matt.  iii.  17.  The  tables  began  to  be 
.'served  a  litile  after  nine,  and  continued  till  about 
twelve  at  night,  there  being  between  four  and  five 
thousand  communicants.  Ministers  were  well  helped, 
and  many  people  heartened.' 

It  may  be  interesting,  and  helpful  to  the  under- 
standing of  the  time,  to  give  the  introduction  to  one 
of  Ealph  Erskine's  sermons  on  a  previous  occasion. 
The  text  is  Isaiah  xlii.  6,  '/  will  give,  Thee  for  a 
covenant  of  the  people.'  The  sermon,  or  rather  series 
of  sermons,  is  in  a  style  very  different  from  that  of 
our  day,  but  there  is  a  quaint  realism  about  it,  an 
evangelical  glow,  and  a  constant  contact  with  the 
hearts  of  the  hearers  that  accounts  for  his  great 
popularity  as  a  preacher. 

'  My  dear  Friends,  if  your  ears  be  open,  there  are  three  things 
that  you  may  hear  this  day.  1st,  You  may  hear  what  ministers 
will  say  ;  but  that  is  a  matter  of  small  moment,  and  it  is  but  a 
poor  errand,  if  you  be  only  come  to  hear  what  a  poor,  mortal, 
sinful  fellow-creature  will  say  to  you.  Little  matter  w-hat  we 
say,  if  God  himself  do  not  speak  into  your  hearts.  Therefore, 
2nd,  You  may  hear  what  God  says  to  you — this  is  a  matter  of 
great  moment,  for  God's  speaking  can  make  us  both  hear  and 
live,  though  we  were  as  deaf  as  stocks,  and  as  dead  as  stones. 
He  sjaake  the  old  Creation  out  of  nothing,  and  He  can  speak  a 
new  creation  out  of  us,  who  are  worse  than  nothing.  Indeed,  it 
will  be  a  wonder  if  He  do  not  speak  terrible  things  in  righteous- 
ness unto  us,  because  of  our  sins  ;  and  really  if  He  speak  to  us 
out  of  Christ,  it  will  be  dreadful.     Therefore,  Si'd,  You  may  come; 


THE  ERSKINES. 


95 


to  hear  what  God  says  to  Chi-ist,  and  this  is  of  the  greatest  moment 
of  all.  To  hear  wiiat  ministers  say  to  the  congi-egation  is  a  little 
thing  ;  to  hear  what  God  says  to  you  is  a  great  thing.  But  to 
hear  what  God  saj^s  to  Christ  is  one  of  the  greatest  things  that 
can  be  heard.  God  in  his  Word  si:)eaks  to  the  sons  of  men,  and 
perliai^s  you  have  noticed  that  ;  l;ut  He  speaks  also  to  the  Son 
of  God,  to  his  eternal  Son,  and  perhaps  that  is  what  you  have 
little  noticed  to  this  day.  Why,  what  says  He  to  Christ  ?  Is  it 
anything  that  we,  the  peo])le,  are  concerned  with  ?  Yea,  what  He 
says  to  Christ  is  of  the  greatest  concern  to  us,  and  it  is  this,  / 
will  give  Thee  for  a  covenant  of  the  people.  Oh,  might  the  great 
and  eternal  Father  say  to  his  great  and  eternal  Son,  who  is  one 
God  with  Him  and  the  eternal  Spirit,  Yonder  is  a  company  cf 
people  meeting  in  Dunfermline  about  a  communion  table,  with 
a  view  to  the  sealing  of  the  Covenant ;  but  their  work  will  be  to 
little  purpose  if  they  view  not  Thee,  my  beloved  Son,  to  be  the 
siaring,  the  spirit,  the  life,  the  all  of  the  Covenant.  Their 
Covenant  will  be  but  a  poor  bargain  without  Thee ;  and,  there- 
fore, behold,  I  will  give  Thee  /or  a  covenant  of  the  people ! 
Oh,  a  sweet  saying  as  ever  was  said  in  the  world  !  and  no  wonder, 
for  'tis  a  part  of  a  sermon  whereof  God  himself  is  the  preacher, 
and  Christ  is  the  text,  and  the  Spirit  is  the  voice  that  conveys 
it.' 

Tliere  is  throughout  the  sermon  the  same  bohhiess 
of  appeal,  with  deep  reverence  in  the  heart  of  it, 
touches  of  pathos,  and  a  lively  fancy  steeped  in  Bible 
language  and  illustration,  which  show  liow,  in  the 
movements  of  his  day,  he  was  such  a  quickening  and 
persuading  preacher. 

His  character  differed  considerably  from  that  of  his 
brother.  Some  one  said  of  Ebenezer  that  to  hear  him 
was  '  to  listen  to  the  Gospel  presented  in  its  majesty  ; ' 
and  he  excelled  in  strength  and  leading  power.  But 
Ealph  had  more  of  the  orator,  and  of  that  subtlety  of 
thought  and  fervour  of  emotion  which  met  so  remark- 


96  THE  ERSKINES. 

ably  in  Samuel  Eutherford.  In  general  literature,  too, 
he  was  far  in  advance  of  most  of  the  ministers  of  his 
time,  and  there  was,  according  to  tradition,  a  humanism 
in  his  recreations  that  stumbled  the  more  rigid,  but 
attracted  to  him  the  mass  of  the  people.  The  story  of 
his  practice  on  the  '  wee  sinful  fiddle  '  is  so  well  known 
that  we  do  not  repeat  it,  but  there  is  another,  showing 
the  warmth  of  attachment  to  Ealph  and  his  preaching, 
which,  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  has  never  been  in  type. 
At  West  Linton,  which  was  one  of  the  early  head- 
quarters of  the  Secession  south  of  the  Forth,  there  was 
a  gathering  of  thousands  to  a  sacrament,  and  the  two 
brothers  were  present.  The  communion  took  place  in 
the  open  air,  on  a  beautiful  green,  beside  the  little 
river  Lyne.  After  the  services,  the  ministers,  in  order 
to  reach  the  manse,  had  to  cross  the  stream  on  step- 
ping-stones. A  countryman  from  the  far  north  had 
been  so  delighted  and  edified  by  Ealph's  preaching 
that,  to  have  a  few  words  with  him,  he  marched 
through  the  Lyne,  step  for  step,  beside  him,  with  the 
water  nearly  to  his  knees.  Pulling  out  a  large  High- 
land snuff-horn,  he  put  it  in  his  hand,  with  the  words, 
'  Oh,  sir,  take  a  pinch,  it  will  do  you  nieikle  good.' 
Ealph  readily  complied,  and,  on  his  returning  the  horn, 
the  worthy  man,  not  knowing  how  to  show  his  feeling, 
refused  it,  saying,  '  Oh,  sir,  keep  it,  it  will  do  me  meikle 
good.'  On  telling  the  story,  and  showing  the  gift  at 
the  manse  dinner,  his  brother  said,  '  Ealph,  Ealph,  ye 
hae  blawn  best,  ye've  brought  away  the  horn,'  with  a 


THE  ERSKINES.  97 

reference  to  the  legend  of  the  knight  in  the  old  tale  of 
chivalry.  It  is  a  simple  story,  but  it  brings  the  two 
brothers  near  us,  and  lets  us  see  how  the  time  imprinted 
the  little  incidents  on  the  memories  of  the  people. 

When,  after  his  deposition,  Ealph  Erskine  could  no 
longer  preach  in  the  parish  church,  a  new  place  of 
worship  needed  to  be  built.  He  records,  with  great 
thankfulness,  that  'at  least /o?^?'  hundred  pounds  sterling 
will  be  gathered  in  the  parish,  among  the  poorer  sort, 
for  the  most  part ;  and  many  that  have  given  declared 
that,  in  case  of  need,  they  will  give  as  much  again.' 
It  was  a  large  sum  for  those  days  at  the  current  value 
of  money,  proving  what  Dr.  Chalmers  called  '  the  power 
of  littles,'  and  beginning  a  new  revenue  in  the  Christian 
Church  that  has  gone  on  extending  ever  since  among 
all  denominations.  A  large  building  was  soon  raised, 
capable  of  containing  two  thousand  people,  and  here 
he  preached  till  his  death.  His  difficulty,  however, 
was  to  abide  long  by  it.  His  journals,  and  those  of 
his  fellow-ministers,  are  at  this  time  filled  wath  notes 
of  their  travels  through  all  the  middle  and  south  of 
Scotland,  in  nearly  every  case  in  response  to  invitations, 
and  with  accounts  of  sermons  preached  to  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  the  assembled  people.  They  had  in 
one  year  applications  for  supply  of  regular  preaching 
from  seventy  different  societies,  and  could  never  have 
met  a  tenth  of  the  calls,  had  it  not  been  for  the  aid 
of  the  elders,  who  took  their  place  when  they  were 
absent,  and  superintended  the  outlying  districts.     The 

G 


98  THE  ERSKINES. 

higher  tone  thus   given  to  the  general  body  of   the 
eklership  was  one  of  the  indirect  benefits  that  arose 
from  the  Secession.     A  '  Seceder  elder '  was  at  first 
a  sneer  in   the  mouth   of   adversaries ;   but  the  part 
these   men   took   has   helped   to   restore   this  arm  of 
strength   to   the   Presbyterian   Churches   of    Scotland. 
The    societies    which    called    for    preachers    were,    in 
numerous  cases,  fellowship  meetings  which  had  come 
down  from  the  times  of  persecution,  and  they  formed 
the  centres  out  of  which  so  many  of   the  Eeformed 
Presbyterian,    Secession,   and    Eelief    churches    grew. 
The  people,  unable   to   find   spiritual  food  under  the 
dry,  heartless  preaching  of  the  moderate  clergy,  gathered 
themselves   into   little   bands,   and   became  what   the 
prophet  calls  '  a  dew  from  the  Lord,  as  the   showers 
upon  the  grass,  that  waited  not  for  the  sons  of  men.' 
But,  with   that  love  of  stated  ordinances  which  has 
always  marked  the  best  portion  of  the  Scottish  people, 
as  soon  as  Gospel  preaching  was  supplied  by  a  Christian 
ministry,  they  flocked  to  it.     The  Erskines  and  their 
successors  did  not  begin  their  work  a  day  too  soon,  and 
the  more  their  history  and  the  state  of  the  time  are 
studied,  the  more  clear  does  it  become  that  a  great 
opportunity  would  have  been  missed  if  they  had  not 
taken  the  step  they  did.     One  of  their  chief  endeavours, 
and  to  this  Ealph  Erskine  greatly  contributed,  was  to 
train  a  young  ministry,  for  which  they  wisely  required 
a   full   preparatory  education.       He   introduced   their 
first  licentiate  to  the  twofold  charge  of  Gateshaw  and 


THE  ERSKINES. 


99 


Stitcliel,  in  Roxburghshire.  At  Gateshaw,  a  site  for 
building  was  denied  them,  and  they  had  to  meet  for  a 
considerable  time  in  a  sequestered  hollow,  through 
which  a  small  burn  runs  to  join  the  water  of  Kale. 
A  tall  old  tower,  called  Corbet  Tower,  now  draped  in 
green  ivy,  seems  to  guard  the  entrance  to  a  little 
amphitheatre  where  the  communions  were  long  held 
after  they  had  secured  a  church ;  and  from  the  south 
of  Scotland  and  the  north  of  England,  thousands 
convened  to  Gateshaw  Brae.  The  first  minister,  John 
Hunter,  introduced  by  Ealpli  Erskine,  was  a  young 
man  of  remarkable  promise  for  talent,  piety,  and  zeal, 
and  was  compared  by  his  friends  to  Samuel  Euther- 
ford  ;  but,  to  the  great  grief  of  the  infant  denomination, 
he  died  in  less  than  three  months  after  his  settlement. 
Principal  Robertson,  the  historian,  when  a  youth,  went 
to  one  of  the  gatherings  in  East  Lothian  wdiere  Hunter 
preached,  and  years  afterwards  he  spoke  of  the  sermon. 
'  He  addressed  his  audience,'  he  says,  '  in  a  strain  of 
natural  and  profound  eloquence,  and  a  strong  impres- 
sion was  produced.  I  myself  was  deeply  affected,  as 
well  as  those  around  me  ;  and  such  was  the  effect  that 
I  recollected  more  of  that  sermon  than  of  any  I  have 
ever  heard.  Even  yet,  when  I  retire  to  my  studies, 
the  recollection  thrills  through  my  mind.'  The  story 
is  told,  that  an  opponent  of  the  Secession  remarked  to 
one  of  its  adherents  that  '  God  appeared  to  frown  on 
the  cause  since  He  had  taken  away  their  first  licentiate, 
a  man  of  such  gifts/     '  No,'  was  the  reply,  '  when  God 


loo  THE  ERSKINES. 

long  ago  claimed  the  first-fruits,  it  brought  a  blessing 
on  the  harvest,  and  so  will  it  be  with  the  preachers  of 
the  Secession  Church.' 

In  speaking  of  the  influence  of  both  the  Erskines, 
but  especially  of  Ealph,  we  must  not  forget  their 
writings.  When  collected,  they  form  many  goodly 
volumes ;  but  they  were  thrown  off,  for  the  most  part, 
in  single  sermons  and  pamphlets,  published  in  Edin- 
burgh, Glasgow,  and  other  towns,  and  were  scattered 
over  Scotland.  One  might  find  them  in  almost  every 
farmhouse  and  cottage  where  there  was  an  interest 
in  religion.  They  can  by  no  means  rank  with  the 
great  Puritan  theology  of  the  previous  century,  but 
they  were  suited  to  their  time.  They  were  highly 
valued  by  the  evangelical  ministers  in  England,  both 
Episcopal  and  Nonconformist,  crossed  the  sea  to 
America,  and  were  translated  into  the  tongues  of 
Wales  and  Holland.  On  a  market-day  in  Eotterdam, 
the  farmers  have  often  been  heard  inquiring  at  the 
bookstalls  for  Erskcyna.  Not  least  among  these  have 
been  the  Gospel  Sonnets  of  Ealph  Erskine.  They 
went  through  an  immense  number  of  editions  in  this 
country  and  America ;  and  in  the  homes  of  the  pious 
peasantry  they  took  the  place  of  the  old  minstrel 
literature.  Perhaps  we  should  say  that  in  many 
hearts  the  two  entered  into  a  loving  friendship,  for 
real  chivalry  and  Christianity  are  not  so  wide  apart, 
and  the  love  of  country  is  never  so  dear  as  when 
it  is  put  under  the  care  of  the  love  of  God.     The 


THE  ERSKINES.  loi 

sonnets  are  full  of  curious  riddles  and  rhymes,  and 
have  often,  it  must  be  confessed,  more  of  sound 
theology  than  high  poetry.  They  will  no  doubt  dis- 
please \X\Q,  friends  of  hroad  mdture,  and  are  constructed 
for  different  organs  than  the  refined  senses  of  '  sweet- 
ness and  light.'  Those  who  care  little  for  the  ointment, 
but  a  great  deal  for  the  flies  and  the  cleverness  that 
picks  them  out,  will  rejoice  to  find  exercise  for  their 
faculty.  But  there  must  be  something  of  fragrance 
in  a  book  that  would  make  a  man  like  Andrew  Fuller 
say  :  '  One  day,  in  particular,  I  took  up  Ealph  Erskine's 
Gospel  Sonnets,  and  opening  upon  what  he  entitled 
"  A  Gospel  Catechism  for  young  Christians,  or  Christ 
all  in  all,  and  our  complete  Eedemption,"  I  read,  and 
as  I  read  I  wept.  Indeed,  I  was  almost  overcome 
with  weeping,  so  interesting  did  the  doctrine  of  eternal 
salvation  appear  to  me  ! '  And  there  must  have  been 
fire  in  the  heart  that  broke,  while  it  mused,  into  verses 
like  these,  from 

Strife  in  Heaven. 

'  Babes  thither  caught  from  womb  and  breast 
Claim  right  to  sing  above  the  rest, 
Because  they've  found  the  hapi:)y  shore 
They  neither  saw  nor  sought  before.' 

Or  from 

Heaven  Desired  by  Saints  on  Earth. 

'  Happy  the  company  that's  gone 
From  cross  to  crown,  from  thrall  to  throne  ; 
How  loud  they  sing  upon  the  shore 
To  which  they  sailed  in  heart  before  ! 


102  THE  ERSKINES. 

Death  from  all  death  has  set  us  free, 
And  will  our  gain  for  ever  be  ; 
Death  loosed  the  massy  chain  of  woe, 
To  let  the  mournful  captives  go. 

Death  is  to  us  a  sweet  repose, 
The  bud  was  oped  to  show  the  rose  ; 
The  cage  was  broke  to  let  us  fly, 
And  build  our  happy  nest  on  high.' 

HavinG;  thus  brought  the  brothers  tocrether  into  the 
same  Church  and  work,  we  might  go  on  to  give  the 
remainder  of  their  history ;  but  we  have  touched  on 
what  was  really  the  great  labour  of  their  life,  and 
the  ground  why  tliey  must  always  have  a  place  in 
Scottish  Church  records.  To  enter  fully  into  the  rest 
of  their  course  would  be  to  raise  again  questions  that 
have  been  long  since  laid,  and  in  which  time  has 
already  separated  the  wheat  from  the  chaff.  Their 
dispute  with  George  Whitefield,  because  he  would  not 
identify  himself  with  their  ecclesiastical  position,  is 
well  known,  and  we  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that 
he  was  more  in  the  right  than  they  were,  and  that, 
if  he  preached  the  Gospel  in  Scotland,  he  could  not 
have  acted  otherwise  than  he  did.  The  excuse  for 
them  is,  that  they  were  heated  with  a  conflict  in 
which  he  had  not  shared,  and  that  they  attached  an 
importance  to  the  government  and  order  of  the  Church 
which  were  foreign  to  his  way  of  thinking.  It  may 
be  that  he  thought  too  little  of  this,  and  that  his 
immense  labours  have  left  less  result  from  the  harvest 
not  being  garnered  into  sheaves.     He  looked  at  Christ 


THE  ERSKINES.  103 

above  all  as  a  Saviour ;  they  regarded  Him  also  as  a 
King  who  has  rights,  of  which  they  were  very  jealous. 
But,  in  any  case,  their  spirit  cannot  be  commended  in 
the  way  they  dealt  by  him,  and  still  less  in  the  un- 
charitable judgment  they  formed  of  the  revivals  at 
Kilsyth  and  Cambuslang,  If  they  had  been  free 
from  prejudice,  they  would  have  seen  that  the  work 
there  was  really  their  own,  and  that  it  needed  only 
an  extension  of  it  to  make  the  Church  of  Scotland 
what  they  desired,  in  its  laws  and  discipline,  as  well 
as  in  its  life. 

It  would  not  be  so  easy  to  pronounce  upon  the 
unhappy  divisions  that  broke  out  among  themselves 
regarding  what  is  called  the  'Burgess  oath.'  The 
fact  that  so  many  good  men  divided  into  two  nearly 
equal  parts  shows  that  it  was  a  doubtful  disputation. 
The  fault  lay  first  of  all  in  the  stumbling-block  which 
the  civil  law  put  in  the  way  of  the  religious  conscience, 
and  then  in  the  temper  witli  which  they  took  it  up — 
that  over -hasty  zeal  for  the  house  of  God  which 
devoured  them,  and  which  injured  the  house  in  the 
struggle  to  purify  it.  It  needs  a  wise  hand  to  over- 
turn the  tables  of  the  money-changers  without  hurting 
the  sacred  vessels.  If  they  were  in  some  things 
narrow  and  intolerant,  it  is  only  saying  that  they 
were  men  who  shared  in  the  tone  of  their  time,  while, 
in  their  main  aim  and  spirit,  they  rose  above  it.  That 
they  were  charged  with  a  mission  to  the  Church,  and 
to  Scotland,  is  seen  in  this,  that,  notwithstanding  faults 


I04  THE  ERSKINES. 

they  committed,  their  work  went  forward  and  bore 
large  fruit.  AVe  can  recollect  no  great  spiritual  move- 
ment which  has  not,  after  its  first  fresh  burst  of  life, 
had  its  period  of  trial — of  trial,  even  by  fire.  But 
if  it  be  real,  that  is,  if  Christian  faith  be  held  fast, 
it  will  come  out  tried  like  gold  from  the  furnace,  the 
dross  gone,  the  precious  ore  safe. 

There  is  evidence  that  the  views  of  both  the 
brothers  widened  and  mellowed  on  controverted  points 
before  they  died.  They  never  wavered  in  the  prin- 
ciples and  positions  they  took  up  ;  but,  after  the  dust 
of  battle  was  laid,  they  spoke  kindly  of  those  with 
whom  they  had  differed.  Ealph  died  on  November 
6,  1752,  and  lies  buried  at  Dunfermline.  Owing 
to  the  nature  of  his  illness,  few  of  his  dying  words 
are  preserved.  George  "Whitefield,  wlio  must  have 
heard  it  from  friends,  gives  us  one,  and  it  is  pleasant 
to  have  it  throusjh  such  a  channel.  It  is  as  if  we 
had  a  w^ord  from  Paul  about  Barnabas,  after  their 
sharp  contention.  '  Thus,'  lie  says,  in  one  of  his 
sermons  on  Isa.  Ix.  19,  wdiere  he  gives  the  last 
expressions  of  several  dying  Christians,  'thus  died 
Mr.  Ealph  Erskine — his  last  words  were  "Victory, 
victory,  victory ! " '  Of  Ebenezer's  death  we  have  a 
more  detailed  account.  'Wlien  he  heard  that  his 
brother  Ealph  was  dead,  he  said,  with  great  feeling, 
'  And  is  Ealj^h  gone  ?  He  has  twice  got  the  start 
of  me ;  he  was  first  in  Christ,  and  now  he  is  first  in 
glory.'      His  last  public   discourse   was   a    short   one, 


THE  ERSKINES.  105 

going  from  his  bed  to  the  pulpit,  as  the  people  were 
very  urgent  to  see  and  hear  him.  His  text  was,  '  I 
know  that  my  Eedeemer  liveth.'  His  very  last 
sermon  was  preached  from  his  bed  to  a  company 
in  the  room,  when  he  baptized  a  child,  and  he  chose 
a  text  with  which  he  had  particularly  wished  to  finish 
his  ministry,  '  This  God  is  our  God  for  ever  and  ever ; 
He  will  be  our  guide  even  unto  death.'  He  lay  on 
the  river's  brink  for  a  while,  like  one  of  Bunyan's 
pilgrims,  and  conversed  calmly  with  his  family  and 
those  about  him,  of  the  way  he  had  come,  and  the 
place  he  was  going  to,  '  Though  I  die,'  he  said  to  his 
children,  '  the  Lord  liveth,  I  have  known  more  of 
God  since  I  came  to  this  bed  than  through  all  my 
life ; '  and  to  some  friends  conversing  with  him,  '  I 
know  that  when  my  soul  forsakes  this  tabernacle  of 
clay  it  will  fly  as  naturally  to  my  Saviour's  bosom  as 
the  bird  to  its  nest.'  He  was  conscious  nearly  to  the 
moment  of  his  death,  shut  his  eyes,  laid  his  hand  under 
his  cheek,  and  went  to  sleep,  June  2,  1754,  having 
nearly  completed  the  seventy-fourth  year  of  his  age. 

By  his  own  desire,  he  was  buried  in  the  centre  of 
his  church,  opposite  to  the  pulpit,  where  a  stone 
covered  the  spot.  In  consequence  of  a  new  church 
having  been  built  behind  the  site  of  the  old  one,  his 
grave  is  now  in  the  open  space  in  front,  with  a  monu- 
ment erected  to  his  memory. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to   add  a  word   about   the 


io6  THE  ERSKINES. 

characters  of  these  two  brothers.  It  is  written  in 
their  life  and  work.  They  had,  as  ah'eady  said, 
individual  differences,  but  they  had  more  in  common ; 
and  what  was  common  belonged  to  the  highest  part  of 
the  nature,  the  moral  and  spiritual.  They  were 
sincere  to  the  inmost  fibre  of  their  conscience,  and 
fearless  in  following  out  their  convictions.  Had  they 
lived  in  the  previous  century,  they  would  have  been 
preachers  on  the  hills,  or  sufferers  at  the  Grassmarket. 
As  it  was,  they  stood  up  unshrinkingly  against  defec- 
tion, and  led  on  what  must  have  seemed  a  forlorn 
hope.  They  went  out,  not  knowing  whither  they 
went,  with  a  faith  in  God's  guidance  that  sent  them 
forward,  though  they  might  have  had  opportunity  to 
have  returned.  We  do  not  forget,  in  this,  men  of  the 
same  character  who  preceded  and  who  followed  them ; 
but  to  them  it  fell  prominently  to  build  up  a  testimony 
in  the  land  for  a  pure  Gospel  and  a  freely-chosen 
ministry.  It  was  the  wisdom,  the  sagacity,  the  zeal, 
and  the  devotion  of  the  fathers  of  tlie  Secession  that 
originated  the  central  body  of  the  free  Presbyterian 
Church  of  the  last  century,  of  w^hich  the  Eeformed 
Presbyterians  were  the  one  wing  and  the  Eelief  the 
other.  In  the  great  temple  of  the  Christian  Church 
which  is  rising,  there  are  memorials  which  we  may 
cherish,  without  either  idolatry  or  sectarianism  ;  and  to 
the  Erskines  belongs  one  of  these.  We  do  not  worship 
them,  or  call  them  master,  but  we  may  be  inspired 
by  their  example  and  spirit.      We  may  confess,  as  we 


THE  ERSKINES.  107 

have   already  done,  that  the   very  keenness  of  their 
conscience  led  them,  at  times,  into  intolerance ;  and 
Thomas  Gillespie,  of  the  Eelief  Church,  had  a  meeker 
spirit  and  wider  views  of  Church  communion,  wliile  he 
was  not  less  evangelical.     But  they  helloed  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  true  Christian  breadth  in  contending  for 
other  principles.     The  first  great  succour  to  new  views 
of  relijTfious  freedom  came  from  their  demand  for  the 
place  of  the  Christian  people  in  the  Church.     When 
Ebenezer    Erskine    opposed     a    forced    settlement    at 
Burntisland,  the  noble  patron  of  the  parish  in\ited  the 
other  members  of  the  presbytery  to  dinner,  but  left 
him  out,  with  the  words,  '  Mr.  Erskine,  you  are  none 
of   us   to-day.'      '  Sir,'  he   replied,  '  you    do  me  great 
honour  ;  it  gives  me  the  truest  pleasure  that  in  this 
we  are  agreed  ;  for  I  scorn  to  be  one  of  those  who 
dare  to  oppress  the  Christian  people,  and  to  rob  them 
of  their  just  privileges.'     It  is  this  refusal  to  allow 
either  State  or  clergy  to  lord  it  over  God's  heritage 
that  has  drawn  forth  whatever  of  power  there  is  in  the 
Churches  of  Scotland,  and  that  is  to  enlist  more  active 
work  and  ready  giving  when  the  people  feel  that  the 
cause  is  their  own.     But  the  Erskines  and  their  friends 
did  even   more   by   the   character  of  their  preaching. 
They  valued   freedom   for  the  sake  of   truth,  and  the 
great  truth  which  lay  close   to   their  heart  and  was 
always    in  their  lips   was  the   freeness,   fulness,    and 
absolute  sufficiency  of  Christ  as  a  Sa\dour  to  all  and 
every  one  who  will  receive  Him.     "We  cannot  open  any 


io8  THE  ERSKINES. 

one  of  their  sermons  without  seeing  that  this  was  the 
life  of  their  own  soul,  and  the  spring  of  all  their  work. 
Such  men  as  Hervey,  Toplady,  Andrew  Fuller,  Dr. 
John  Erskine,  Dr.  Andrew  Thomson  of  St.  George's, 
are  a  few  of  those  who  acknowledge  their  obligations 
to  them.  It  was  this  that  made  their  teaching  so 
thoroughly  evangelistic,  and  their  work  a  missionary 
one,  first  to  Scotland,  then  to  England  and  Ireland,  the 
Colonies,  and  the  world.  Before  they  died,  the  seeds 
of  their  work  at  home  had  been  carried  beyond  the 
seas,  and  if  there  be  anything  of  the  mission  spirit  in 
their  successors,  it  is  owing  to  the  large  view  taken  of 
the  Gospel  message  by  the  fathers  of  the  Church. 
The  emblem  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  is  '  The  bush 
burning  but  not  consumed.'  It  is  not  as  setting  it 
aside,  but,  we  trust,  as  supplementing  it,  that  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church  has  adopted  '  The  dove 
with  the  olive  leaf ; '  and,  when  the  scattered  children  of 
the  family  are  brought  together  into  one  Church  again, 
the  names  of  the  Erskines,  and  the  impulse  they  gave 
to  Christian  work,  will  find  their  acknowledged  place. 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  GLASGOW.^ 

To  possess  a  history  is  that  which  distinguishes  man 
from  the  lower  creatures  around  him.  They  present 
the  same  appearance  from  age  to  age,  unchanging  in 
their  instincts  and  habits,  except  in  so  far  as  they 
have  been  modified  from  contact  with  man ;  and, 
therefore,  the  history  of  one  generation  of  irrational 
animals  is  the  history  of  every  other.  But  in  the 
human  race  there  is  progressive  change,  and  it  is  the 
part  of  history  both  to  record  and  accelerate  it.  It 
shows  us  how  far  we  have  advanced  beyond  the  past, 
and  it  treasures  up  the  experience  of  that  past  for 
still  further  advance  in  the  future.  Without  it,  we 
would  constantly  require  to  begin  the  march  of  im- 
provement anew,  and  society  would  be  moving  in  a 
narrow,  ever-returning  circle,  instead  of  in  one  straight 
and  forward  line.  It  is  therefore  the  duty  of  every 
man  to  make  himself  acquainted  with  history.  The 
Eoman  orator  and  philosopher  Cicero  has  said  that  '  for 
a  man  to  be  ignorant  of  what  happened  before  his  birth 
is  to  be  always  a  child.'     He  who  studies  carefully 

'  Lecture  delivered  iii  the  City  Hall,  Glasgow,  1852. 


1 1  o        EARL  Y  HI  ST  OR  V  OF  GLASG  O  W. 

and  wisely  the  records  of  the  past  incorporates  the 
wisdom  of  many  previous  generations  with  his  own 
experience,  derives  benefit  from  their  errors  and  losses 
without  their  follies  and  sufferings,  and  may  accumu- 
late within  the  limits  of  threescore  years  and  ten 
more  than  the  knowledge  of  an  antediluvian  memory. 
While  this  is  true  of  history  in  general,  that  of  our 
own  country  has  special  claims  upon  us.  That  same 
Cicero  has  said  that  '  none  appeared  to  him  learned 
who  were  ignorant  of  the  past  affairs  of  their  own 
nation.'  God's  providence  has  given  us  peculiar 
relations  and  duties  to  the  land  of  our  birth,  and  we 
shall  understand  them  better,  and  discharge  them  more 
faithfully,  when  we  have  looked  into  its  past  annals, 
and  learned  from  them  accurately  to  discern  its  present 
position  and  its  future  prospects.  In  the  history  of 
Scotland  we  have  one  from  which  we  have  no  reason 
to  turn  our  eyes,  or  to  blush  while  we  read  it.  There 
may  be  blots  on  some  of  the  pages  that  even  the  most 
partial  might  wish  they  could  wipe  out,  but  these  do 
not  mar  its  general  character  ;  and  there  is  perhaps  no 
country  that  can  show  more  ardent  patriotism  in  its 
struggles  for  national  independence,  more  devotion  in 
sufferinu'  for  the  cause  of  God's  truth  and  man's 
liberty,  or,  to  come  to  later  times,  a  more  rapid 
advance  in  industrial  arts  and  social  prosperity,  and, 
considering  its  population,  a  greater  number  of  names 
distinguished  in  science,  in  poetry,  in  philosophy,  and 
in  active   benevolence  —  men  who   by  their  labours 


EARL  Y  HISTOR  Y  OF  GLASGO  W.         1 1 1 

have  enlarged  the  domain  of  truth  and  augmented  the 
materials  of  liuman  happiness  and  progress.  Our 
country  is  one  not  favoured  in  climate,  or  soil,  or 
position.  It  was  shut  out  by  the  ancient  Eoman  from 
that  empire  which  he  proudly  termed  the  ivorkl.  It 
is  inconsiderable  in  the  number  of  its  inhabitants  as 
compared  with  many  others,  yet  has  it  made  for  itself 
a  name  that  is  known  throughout  the  globe, — a  name 
which  the  superior  wealth  and  power  of  England  have 
not  been  able  to  obliterate,  and  which  we  trust  will 
long  continue,  as  significant  of  sterling  truth  and 
honesty,  of  manly  independence  and  persevering 
industry,  of  love  to  men,  founded  on  the  fear  of  God. 
If  we  would  discharge  our  duty  to  our  country,  we 
must  look  even  at  the  blots  on  its  historical  page,  that 
we  may  efface  them  if  possible  by  a  changed  course ; 
and  we  must  contemplate  its  fair  fame  and  great 
examples,  that  w^e  may  be  stimulated  not  to  prove 
ourselves  unworthy  of  it. 

It  is  our  purpose  to  present  to  you  some  views  of 
the  history  of  one  of  the  chief  towns  of  our  native 
country, — of  what  is  now,  indeed,  the  chief  town,  the 
real  if  not  the  nominal  metropolis,  of  Scotland.  Such 
a  survey  should  be  interesting  to  us  as  Scotsmen,  because 
the  history  of  Glasgow  will  present  to  a  great  extent 
the  history  of  Scotland,  and  we  shall  attempt  to  look 
at  the  subject  in  this  wider  point  of  view,  tracing  the 
relations  of  the  city  where  we  live  to  the  country  at 
large,  and  seeking  as  much  as  possible  broad  giim;^ses 


1 1 2        EARL  Y  HISTOR  Y  OF  GLASGO  W. 

of  the  different  periods  as  we  pass  through  them.  We 
shall  have  in  this  way  a  transverse  section  of  our 
country's  history  that  may  give  us  some  conception  of 
the  whole,  and  that  conception  perhaps  may  he  all 
the  clearer  from  our  selecting  one  central  spot  whence 
we  may  take  it.  The  survey  should  have  interest  to 
us  as  citizens  of  Glasgow,  her  adopted,  if  not  her 
native-bom  children.  It  is  true  we  have  not  the 
monumental  ruins  of  mighty  cities  of  the  past  to  fill 
us  with  awe  and  wonder  —  we  have  neither  Pan- 
theon nor  Parthenon,  sculptured  halls  of  Nineveh  nor 
temples  of  Palmyra — 

'  Columns  strewn 
On  the  waste  sands,  and  statues  fallen  and  cleft, 
Heaped  like  a  host  in  battle  overthrown,' 

It  may  seem  a  vast  descent  to  come  to  this  city  of 
factories,  and  warehouses,  and  streets  of  hewn  stone,, 
in  straight  and  regular  array  ;  hut  we  have  this  to 
compensate  for  all — the  town  is  our  own.  This  gives 
it  an  interest  nearer  than  either  Thebes  or  Babylon, 
The  men  who  trod  this  soil  before  us,  and  who  lie 
buried  beneath  it,  were  our  predecessors,  our  ancestors ;. 
and  we  should  be  desirous  to  know  what  kind  of  men 
they  were,  even  though  their  hands  did  not  build 
j)yramids  or  rear  hanging-gardens.  It  is,  moreover, 
still  a  city  of  living  men  and  women,  where  we  may 
do  good  with  the  lessons  we  bring  from  its  past,  and 
strive   to   make   it   better  and  wiser   and   greater   in 


EARL  V  HI  ST  OR  Y  OF  GLA  SGOW.         113 

coming  time.  Certain  I  am  that,  if  our  short  retro- 
spect fails  to  suggest  reasons  for  continued  energy  and 
industry,  if  it  does  not  make  us  more  thankful  for  the 
present  and  hopeful  for  the  future,  it  will  not  he 
because  the  history  of  Glasgow  is  not  fitted  to  teach 
them. 

In  the  short  retrospect  we  take,  we  shall  not  pursue 
a  continuous  course,  chronicling  events  as  they  oc- 
curred. This  would  be  impossible  in  the  limited 
bounds  of  a  lecture  or  two,  and  it  would,  besides,  fail 
to  bring  before  you  so  distinctly  the  onward  course  of 
progress  in  the  history  of  the  city.  We  shall,  there- 
fore, attempt  rather  to  dwell  on  particular  epochs  in 
order,  and  to  sketch,  as  distinctly  as  we  can,  the 
appearance  of  the  place  and  the  circumstances  and 
habits  of  the  people  at  each  period.  "VVe  may  thus 
obtain  a  series  of  bird's-eye  views  around  us,  from  the 
prominent  summits  of  history.  The  views  from  these 
must  be  at  first  wider  and  more  general,  having  refer- 
ence rather  to  Glasgow's  locality  than  to  the  city 
itself;  but  as  we  proceed  down  the  stream  of  time  we 
shall  have  an  opportunity  of  making  these  surveys 
more  distinct  and  circumstantial. 

I. — Peimitive  Period. 

The  first  period  may  be  termed  the  primitive  ;  and, 
as  a  starting-point  for  it,  we  may  ask  you  to  accom- 
pany us  to  one  of  those  ancient  boats  that  have  been 

H 


1 1 4        EARL  V  HISTOR  Y  OF  GLASGOW. 

found  on  the  site  of  our  city,  and  which  may  be  seen 
either  in  the  Hunterian  Museum  or  the  room  of 
Stirling's  Library.  They  are  canoes  of  the  most 
primitive  form,  hollowed  out  of  the  trunk  of  a  tree, 
and  bearing  in  some  cases  the  traces  of  the  fire  that 
had  aided  the  workman  in  his  operation,  and  in  one 
instance  the  marks  of  the  stone  cdt  or  axe  with  which,  it 
may  be,  the  boat  was  formed  out  of  one  of  the  primitive 
oaks  of  the  Caledonian  Forest.  That  in  the  Hunterian 
Museum  is  19f  feet  long,  3|  feet  wide  at  the  stern, 
and  30  inches  deep.  They  have  been  found  in  almost 
all  parts  of  the  city,  and  at  varying  depths.  The 
first  recorded  was  discovered  in  1780,  by  some  work- 
men, as  they  were  digging  tlie  foundation  of  old  St. 
Enoch's  Church.  It  was  found  at  the  depth  of 
twenty-five  feet  from  the  surface.  Another,  in  1781, 
near  the  City  Cross,  in  digging  the  foundation  of  the 
Tontine,  which  was  erected  at  that  time.  A  third 
was  found,  not  a  hundred  yards  from  the  same  spot, 
in  making  the  sewer  for  London  Street,  and,  curiously 
enough,  it  lay,  prow  uppermost,  in  a  position  nearly 
vertical,  as  if  it  had  foundered  in  that  very  place  in  a 
storm.  Since  then  others  have  been  found,  to  the 
number  of  seventeen  or  eighteen,  on  the  north  and 
south  sides  of  the  river,  at  Springfield  and  Clydehaugh, 
in  Stockwell,  and  one  as  far  as  the  slope  of  Drygate 
Street,  immediately  behind  the  Prison.  How  many 
more  may  yet  be  buried  beneath  the  surface  who  can 
tell  ?      These    discoveries    suggest    curious    inquiries. 


EARL  V  HISTOR  V  OF  GLASGO  W.         115 

They  seem  to  show  this,  that  at  a  period  which  we 
caunot  set  at  less  than  2500  or  3000  years  ago,  in 
all  probability  more,  this  river  of  Clyde  had  navies 
of  a  kind,  hewn  from  the  forests  that  clothed  our  hills, 
without  the  aid  of  a  tool  of  iron.  What  a  contrast 
between  the  little  canoe  with  its  stone  hatchet,  and 
those  stately  vessels  that  are  now  preparing  to  make 
the  voyage  of  the  world,  ribbed  with  iron  from  our 
own  soil,  and  riveted  by  ponderous  hammers  !  The 
fact  that  so  many  of  these  boats  have  been  found  in 
this  locality  would  suggest  the  conclusion  that  there 
must  have  been  here,  even  at  that  remote  period,  '  a 
haven  of  ships.'  If  so,  Glasgow  yields  in  antiquity 
to  no  city  of  the  empire.  It  is  true  that  history  gives 
no  record  of  this  ;  but  for  the  simple  reason  that  history 
there  was  none.  But  these  boats  themselves  contain 
the  record ;  and  the  numbers  of  them  found  beneath 
our  feet  show  that  there  must  have  been  a  cluster  of 
primitive  dwellings  in  the  vicinity.  It  may  be  that, 
as  the  river  is  the  source  of  Glasgow's  greatness,  in 
the  river  also  we  may  find  the  earliest  trace  of  Glas- 
gow's existence.  It  is  true,  moreover,  of  almost  all 
great  cities,  either  of  ancient  or  modern  times,  that 
they  are  planted  above  the  homesteads  of  earlier  in- 
habitants. Man's  tendency  is  to  tread  in  the  steps  of 
those  who  have  gone  before ;  and  it  is  most  probaljle 
that,  since  there  were  inhabitants  at  this  early  period, 
they  were  to  be  found  where  history,  emerging  from 
the  cloud  of  age,  shows  us  Glasgow  first  existent. 


1 16        EARL  Y  HISTOR  Y  OF  GLASGO  W. 

The  face  of  land  and  water  must  have  been  very 
different  then  from  now.     The  way  in  which  these 
boats   were   found,   and   the   soil   of    sand    and    mud 
beneath,  prove  that  the  Clyde  overflowed  the  greater 
part   of  the  site  on  which   modern  Glasgow  stands. 
We  wonder  to  hear  individuals,  who  are  our  contem- 
poraries, tell  of  the  floods  of  the  Bridgegate;  but  could 
some  hardy  rower,  from  one  of  these  primitive  boats, 
narrate   his  story,  he  would   speak   of   the   tide   and 
stream  combined,  as  overflowing  all  that  we  call  the 
South  Side,  with  Argyle  Street,  Trongate,  Gallowgate, 
and  all  their  branching  wynds  and  streets,  and  rippling 
a<Tainst  the  high  bank  that  rises  from  George  Street  to 
the   heights   of    Eottenrow   and    Blythswood    Square. 
The  Clyde  in  those  days  would  be  here  what  it  now 
is  at  Dumbarton,  a  little  firth  in  which  boats  might 
founder,  and  where  they  are  preserved  in  the  alluvial 
soil  brought  down  by  the  river,  that  they  may  give  us 
these  glimpses  of  the  past.     Where  houses  now  stand 
in    thousands,    and    business    circulates    in    ceaseless 
streams,  the  canoe  once  paddled,  and  the  denizens  of 
the  deep   sported   at   will.      Beyond   the  flood -mark 
there  would  be  the  thick,  woody  forests  of  noble  oak, 
as  the    Eomans  found    them,   and    as    our  morasses 
show  imbedded  in  their  midst ;  and  in  these  gloomy 
recesses  the  wild  boar,  the  lion,  and  the  wolf  must 
have  been  coeval  with  man.     In  some  opening  glade, 
it  may  be,  near  what  is  the   most  ancient  and  the 
highest    part    of    the    city    (our   venerable    cathedral 


EARL V  HISTOR Y  OF  GLASGO W.         uy 

church),  stood  the  few  straggling  huts  to  which  the 
owners  of  these  frail  boats  retired  from  the  toils  of 
fishing  and  the  chase,  or  the  hazards  of  warfare  with  a 
neighbouring  tribe.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  scenes 
so  strange,  on  this  very  soil,  yet  so  far  do  these  dumb 
memorials  testify. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  discuss  somewhat  fully 
of  what  race  and  lineage  these  men  were,  and  what 
their  condition  and  general  circumstances  might  be. 
The  antiquarians  of  our  country  have  done  not  a  little 
in  this  field  of  inquiry,  but  much  more  remains  to  be 
done.  The  great  source  of  information  is  the  relics 
that  are  from  time  to  time  exhumed  from  beneath  our 
feet ;  and  it  should  be  the  endeavour  of  all  intelligent 
men  to  discourage  the  spirit  of  destroying  these,  which 
too  often  prevails,  in  thoughtless  ignorance  or  wanton 
mischief.  Some  small  and  apparently  unimportant 
memorial  may  be  the  key  to  a  department  of  interest- 
ing knowledge.  For  the  most  recent  results  we  may 
refer  to  Wilson's  Frehistoric  Annals  of  Scotland,  a 
work  of  great  research  and  interest. 

To  what  race  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  this 
country  belonged  is  not  very  clear.  At  the  time  of 
the  Eoman  invasion,  a  thousand  years  later  than  the 
period  we  are  considering,  the  mass  of  the  population 
of  the  British  Islands  was  Celtic,  divided  into  two  great 
branches — the  one  the  Cimbric  Celts  or  Cymri,  the 
ancestors  of  the  present  Welsh ;  the  other  the  Gaelic 
Celts  or  Gaels,  of  the  same  lineage  with  our  Scottish 


1 1 8        EARL  Y  HISTOR  V  OF  GLASGO  W. 

Highlanders  and  the  native  Irish.  Besides  these, 
there  was,  in  the  time  of  the  Eomans,  a  fringe  of 
different  races  along  the  sea- coast,  of  Belgic  or  Teutonic 
origin,  the  precursors  of  those  who  came  afterwards  so 
abundantly  under  the  names  of  Anglo-Saxons  and 
Northmen,  the  ancestors  of  the  present  English  and 
Lowland  Scottish.  But,  before  either  Saxon  or  Celt, 
there  are  traces  of  a  previous  race,  probably  the  first 
wave  of  that  tide  of  emigration  that  has  come  westward 
from  the  plains  of  Shinar,  the  birthland  of  the  human 
family.  It  is  only  from  the  different  conformation  of 
the  cranium,  with  the  customs  of  sepulture,  and  other 
remains,  that  antiquarians  have  come  to  this  supposi- 
tion. This  race,  which  may  have  been  the  race  of 
primitive  boat-builders  on  the  Clyde,  would  seem  to 
have  resembled  more  the  Tartar  tribes ;  but  all  vestige 
of  their  language  and  separate  features  has  disappeared, 
having  been  absorbed  in  the  successive  waves  of  popu- 
lation that  broke  over  them.  It  cannot  be  doubted, 
however,  that  they  have  contributed  their  part  to  those 
features  that  form  the  composite  character  of  the 
population  of  the  British  Isles. 

It  would  be  still  more  interesting  to  consider  the 
condition  of  these  aborigines,  to  whatsoever  race  they 
belonged.  Regarding  this,  much  more  certain  and 
definite  information  could  be  gleaned.  That  they 
must  have  had  some  knowledge  of  the  arts,  however 
small,  is  clear  from  this,  that  they  could  only  reach 
Britain  by  sea,  and  they  must  therefore  have  under- 


EARL  V  HISTOR  V  OF  GLASGO  W.         119 

stood  tlie  construction  and  navigation  of  a  boat. 
But  the  condition  of  the  South  Sea  Islanders,  when 
discovered  by  Captain  Cook,  would  show  that  with 
this  knowledge  there  might  be  a  very  low  grade  of 
social  life.  The  relics  of  these  early  boat-builders 
all  attest  this.  The  original  state  of  man  is  not  that 
of  a  savage ;  and  these  tribes  had  come  from  the 
cradle  of  humanity  in  the  East,  but  they  had  lost 
civilization  in  tlieir  long  march  over  continents, 
through  forests,  in  conflict  with  wild  beasts  and 
with  each  other.  They  must  have  lost  their  know- 
ledge of  the  metals,  for  they  were  reduced  to  the 
hammer  and  hatchet,  the  spear  and  arrow-head  of 
stone.  "With  these,  fashioned  by  wonderful  ingenuity, 
they  met  the  most  formidable  creatures  of  earth  and 
ocean.  The  whale  itself  has  been  found,  by  indu- 
bitable evidence,  slain  by  the  flint-headed  spear  of 
the  primitive  Caledonian.  Their  dwellings  were  in 
summer  the  bothy  or  hut,  erected  on  the  foundation 
of  circular  stones,  which  may  be  found  by  the 
wanderer,  as  we  have  seen  them,  among  the  Cheviot 
Hills ;  and  in  winter  they  had  their  subterranean 
burrows  or  dens  called  weems,  some  of  which  have 
been  found  in  moorland  districts,  with  the  bones  of 
the  wild  boar  and  bear  still  lying  amid  the  ashes  of 
the  wood-fire  that  had  prepared  the  rude  repast.  In 
this  form  men  lived,  and  men  that  were  our  pre- 
decessors, it  may  be  our  ancestors,  on  this  very 
soil.     They  were  living  men  and  women  ;  they  had 


1 20        EARL  y  HISTOR  V  OF  GLASGO  W. 

their  hopes  and  fears,  their   struggles  and  triumphs, 
their  joys  and  sorrows,  in  their  own  day.     It  was  a 
true,  living  past ;  let  us  not  doubt  it,  and  let  us  not 
attempt  to  despise  it.     They  did  their  part  bravely, 
energetically,  perseveringly,  with  their  hammer  of  stone 
and    tree  canoe.     They  lived    in    spite  of    hardships 
and  dangers,  and  handed  down  some  progress  to  those 
who  followed  them.     The  first  step  they   made  was 
perhaps  necessary   to   every   step   of   ours.     Had  w^e 
not  possessed   their  experience,  we  might  have  been 
commencing  at  their    level.     The   man   who   gave  a 
new  and  more  convenient  form  to  the  hatchet,  or  first 
fastened  the  tiller,  as  it  may  sometimes  be  seen,  to 
the    little    boat,   was    preparing    the    way  for    James 
Watt  and  Henry  Bell.     Let  us  be  grateful,  not  dis- 
dainful. 

Of  the  religion  of  these  aboriginal  dwellers  we 
have  least  knowledge  of  all.  That  they  had  a  religion 
we  doubt  not.  In  no  age  or  country  has  any  race  of 
men  been  discovered  without  it.  But  they  had  most 
certainly  lost  the  primitive,  patriarchal  faith,  which 
man  had  first  of  all,  when  he  stood  nearer  to  his 
Maker.  They  had  lost,  perhaps,  also  the  most 
elevated  form  of  idolatry — Sabaism  or  fire-worship, 
of  which  Druidism,  that  prevailed  afterwards,  was  a 
branch.  They  had  sunk,  in  all  likehhood,  to  the 
Fetichism  or  charm-worship  that  prevails  at  this  day 
on  the  coast  of  Africa.  That  they  had  not  surrendered 
their  hope  of  a  life  beyond  death  may  be  argued  from 


EARL  Y  HISrOR V  OF  GLASG OW.         121 

the  manner  in  which  they  buried  their  dead,  with  the 
instruments  of  service  and  ornaments  near  to  them, 
that  they  might  possess  them  still  in  the  spirit-land. 
Such  words  as  those  that  Bryant  puts  into  the  mouth 
of  the  American-Indian  maid,  as  she  mourned  her 
dead,  may  have  suited  the  ancient  Caledonian : 

'  'Twas  I  the  'broidei-ed  mocsin  made 
That  shod  thee  for  that  distant  land, 

'Twas  I  thy  bow  and  arrows  laid 
Beside  thy  still  cold  hand  ; 

Thy  bow  in  many  a  battle  bent, 

Thine  arrows  never  vainly  sent  ! ' 

It  was  yet  far  distant  from  that  period  when  life 
and  immortality  were  to  be  brought  to  light  by  the 
Gospel.  In  their  sepulchres  close  around  us  there 
are  memorials  that  tell  us  of  their  imaginings  regarding 
the  future,  to  them  dark  and  dismal.  On  the  summit 
of  the  Cathkin  hills,  above  Eutherglen,  immense 
tumuli  and  piles  of  stones  existed,  containing  the 
burial-places  and  urns  of  the  primitive  inhabitants ; 
in  particular,  on  a  hill  called  Queen  Mary's  Law  and 
Knocklegoil  Hill.  It  is  to  be  deeply  regretted  that 
these,  with  their  curious  chambers,  have  been  destroyed, 
from  hundreds  of  cartloads  having  been  removed  to 
build  walls  in  the  neighbourhood.  We  should  preserve 
the  mounds  and  circles  of  the  past,  to  let  the  future 
see  what  it  has  been,  if  for  no  more  than  to  be 
milestones  of  progress  on  the  great  highway  of  nations 
to  mark  their  march  ;  and  we  should  have  some  regard 


1 2 2        EARL  Y  HISTOR  V  OF  GLASGO  W, 

for   the   ashes  of  the  dead,  even  though  thousands  of 
years  have  rolled  over  their  sepulchres. 

'  A  noble  race  !  but  tliey  are  gone, 

"With  their  old  forests,  wide  and  deep  ; 
And  we  have  built  our  homes  upon 

Fields  where  their  generations  sleep. 
Their  fountains  slake  our  thirst  at  noon, 

Upon  their  fields  our  harvest  waves  ; 
Our  lovers  woo  beneath  their  moon  : 

Ah,  let  us  spare  at  least  their  graves  I '  ^ 

II. — PtOMAN  Period. 

We  come  now  to  a  different  period.  These  ancient 
boats  may  have  been  sailing  on  the  Clyde  when  Saul 
reigned  over  Israel,  and  when  Nineveh, '  that  great  city,' 
stood  in  its  splendour.  We  descend  more  than  a 
thousand  years,  and  we  find  around  Glasgow  marks  of 
new  occupants  of  the  soil.  Near  the  site  where  Glasgow 
now  stands  have  been  found  stones  that  tell  of  a 
strange  people  from  those  who  had  hitherto  been  seen 
within  the  limits  of  our  island  ;  and  a  little  way  to  the 
north  of  Glasgow  the  traces  of  a  wall,  from  Dunglas 
by  Kilpatrick  and  Castlecary,  running  to  tlie  Eastern 
Sea,  tell  the  story  more  distinctly.  Altars  and  votive 
tablets  and  legionary  inscriptions  have  all  been  up- 
turned from  the  soil  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
Glasgow,  and  the  largest  collection  of  them  in  Scotland 
is  to  be  found  in  our  own  Hunterian  Museum.  It  is 
the  Eoman  that  has  entered.     That  wonderful  power 

^  Bryant. 


EARL  V  HISTOR  V  OF  GLASGO  W.         1 2  3 

had  risen  from  small  beginnings  to  the  empire  of  the 
world.  From  the  remote  East  they  had  extended 
their  sway  to  the  furthest  West.  They  had  conquered 
Spain,  penetrated  Germany,  subjugated  France  or  Gaul, 
and,  finding  that  aid  came  to  that  country  from  the 
opposite  shores  of  Britain,  they  resolved  to  make  their 
conquest  secure  by  invading  Britain  also.  It  was  in  the 
year  before  Christ  55  that  Julius  Csesar  first  set  foot 
on  the  shore  of  Kent,  but  it  was  not  till  135  years  later, 
A.D.  80,  that  Agricola  visited  these  northern  regions. 
On  the  Grampian  slopes  the  Roman  sword  came  into 
collision  with  the  Caledonian  spear,  and  the  discipline 
of  Eome  prevailed  over  the  rude  valour  of  our  ancestors. 
We  can  console  ourselves  with  the  reflection  of 
Cowper, — 

'The  Eoman  taught  thy  stubborn  knee  to  bend, 
But  twice  a  Roman  could  not  bend  thee  now.' 

Yet  the  Caledonians,  tliough  defeated,  were  not 
subdued,  and  Agricola,  unable  to  conquer  the  northern 
portion  of  the  island,  or  recalled  before  he  had  time  to 
do  so,  drew  a  line  of  forts  from  the  Clyde  to  the 
Forth,  as  the  boundary  of  the  empire,  and  as  a  defence 
against  the  fierce  tribes  beyond.  Many  a  terrible 
encounter  doubtless  took  place  along  this  line, — the 
Romans  defending,  the  Caledonians  attacking, — and  a 
warfare  was  prevalent,  resembling  very  much  that 
which  has  been  lately  w^aged  in  Caffreland  between 
the   Briton   and   the  African.      Sixty  years   after   the 


1 24        EARL  Y  HISTOR  ]    OF  GLASGO IV. 

time  of  Agricola,  a.d.  140,  the  Eoman  soldiers 
strengthened  the  line  of  forts  by  a  wall  that  must 
have  required  great  labour,  running  from  the  Clyde  to 
the  Forth,  parallel  with  those  works  of  a  later  age 
that  bespeak  so  different  a  period — the  Forth  and 
Clyde  Canal,  and  the  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  Eailway. 
In  the  excavations  for  these  very  works,  Eoman  tablets 
have  been  dug  up,  containing  sometimes  the  dedica- 
tion of  a  part  of  the  wall  to  their  favourite  Emperor 
Antoninus,  then  reigning,  sometimes  an  inscription  to 
the  memory  of  a  wife  or  daughter  of  a  Eoman  colonist 
who  had  withered  and  died  under  our  rough  northern 
blasts.  Nowhere  does  the  wonderful  energy  of  Eome 
appear  greater  than  on  these  very  confines  of  her 
mighty  empire.  Let  us  think  of  what  Britain  must 
have  been  to  one  from  the  sunny  sky  and  balmy  air 
of  Italy,  covered  with  alternate  swamp  and  forest, 
and  *  deformed,'  as  they  themselves  express  it,  '  with 
mists  and  rainy  dews ; '  and  when  we  consider  the 
works  with  which  they  covered  our  island,  military 
and  civil,  we  shall  see  in  them  a  higher  testimony  to 
stern  Eoman  grandeur  than  in  the  ruins  of  the 
Colosseum  or  the  amphitheatre. 

What  Glasgow  was  then,  it  is  very  hard  to  say. 
The  stones  of  the  Eomans,  like  the  boats  of  the 
aborigines,  tell  us  something,  but  in  records  the  name 
does  not  yet  appear.  We  may  suppose  it  likely  that 
the  primitive  huts  had  survived  Eoman  invasion,  or 
had  risen  again  under  shelter  of  the  protecting  wall ; 


EARL  V  HISTOR  Y  OF  GLASGO  W.         125 

though  the  case  of  their  inhabitants  must  have  been 
a  very  hard  one,  their  sympathies  going  forth  to  their 
countrymen  beyond  the  wall,  while  they  were  made  to 
feel  that  with  their  oppressors  there  was  power.     It 
is  probable  that  the  dwellers  in  the  Glasgow  of  that 
day  were,  like   our  own   frontier   Caffres,  trusted  by 
neither  party,  and  plundered  by  both.     This  at  least 
is  certain  and  interesting,  that  the  spot  on  which  we 
now  live  was  for  many  years  the  extreme  limit  of  the 
Eoman  Empire,  and  consequently  of  the  then  known 
and   acknowledged   world.       The   wall   was    close    at 
hand,   beyond  which   the  Eomans  knew  nothing  but 
barbarism.     We  may  imagine  despatches  going  to  the 
mistress  of  the  world,  telling  of  the  obstinate  defence 
of  the   Caledonian   enemy,  in  some  Waterhloof  of  the 
Campsie  or  Kilpatrick   hills — it   may   be    the    noted 
Campsie  Glen  or  Peel  Glen,  where  British  camps  are 
still  to  be  found ;  and  Glasgow,  if  it  appeared  at  all, 
standing   much  as  now  do  Fort  Hare   or  Fort  Arm- 
strong, a  little  stronghold  in  the   hands  of  harassed 
soldiers,  surrounded  by  a  watchful  and  implacable  foe. 
Many  a  sigh  may  have  gone   from  the  banks  of  the 
Clyde  to  the  banks    of  the   Tiber ;  and  many  a  hair- 
breadth escape  and  fierce  encounter  that  took  place  on 
the  banks  of  the  Kelvin  or  the  Cart  may  have  been 
related  in  homes  by  the  side  of  the  Arno  or  the  Po. 

A  question  of  importance  connected  with  this  sub- 
ject is  the  state  of  progress  in  which  the  Eomans 
found  our  ancestors  on  this  spot.      The  common  idea 


1 26         EARL  Y  HISTOR  Y  OF  GLASGO  W. 

is,  that  they  discovered  them  in  the  very  lowest  grade 
of  social  life,  and  that  the  first  spark  of  improvement 
was  struck  by  the  Eoman  invasion.  We  cannot  doubt 
that  the  Romans  accelerated  improvement,  especially 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  island,  but  it  is  a  great 
mistake  to  suppose  that  they  first  commenced  it.  The 
account  that  the  Eoman  writers  give  us  of  the 
inhabitants,  brief  though  it  be,  shows  that  they 
had  made  marked  progress  from  the  condition 
indicated  by  the  boats  beneath  the  soil  of  Glasgow. 
The  stone  period  had  given  place  to  the  period  of 
copper  and  bronze,  the  first  metals  that  were  used 
in  working,  and  this  again  in  its  turn  to  the  period 
of  iron.  This  was  one  of  the  most  important  steps  of 
progress,  and  it  had  been  reached  before  the  foot  of 
a  Roman  soldier  touched  British  ground,  for  the  sword 
of  the  legionary  clashed,  in  the  very  first  onset, 
with  the  claymore  and  iron  shield  bosses  of  the 
Caledonian.  "Who  invented  the  working  of  iron,  or 
introduced  it  to  Britain,  cannot  be  known.  The 
name  of  Yoelund  or  Wayland,  the  smith,  is  found 
still  among  the  nations  of  the  north ;  and  in  a 
valley  in  Berkshire  the  spot  is  pointed  out  where 
the  famous  man  wrought  who  found  again  what  had 
been  found  ages  before  by  Tubal  Cain.  The  different 
legends  show  at  least  the  importance  attached  to  the 
invention.  Gold  had  been  in  use  even  before  iron, 
and  from  its  presence  in  tumuli  and  sepulchres  it 
must  have  existed  in  considerable  abundance.     It  is 


EARL  V  HISTOR  V  OF  GLASGO  W.         127 

in  reality  the  most  widely  -  diffused  of  metals,  the 
most  readily  wrought,  and  at  the  same  time  the  soonest 
exhausted,  as  it  is  not  found  far  from  the  surface. 
In  its  native  state,  it  existed  in  many  places  in  the 
British  Islands.  So  late  as  1790,  more  than  800  ounces 
were  collected  by  diggers  in  the  county  of  Wicklow 
in  Ireland.  With  this  progress  in  metals,  there  must 
have  been  a  corresponding  progress  in  the  arts  of  life. 
The  occupations  of  the  fisher  and  hunter  had  given 
way  in  great  part  to  that  of  the  pastoral  state.  There 
was  large  wealth,  as  the  Eomans  tell  us,  in  flocks  and 
herds.  The  hollowed-tree  canoe  had  been  followed 
by  the  barque  in  which  trade  was  carried  on  between 
Gaul  and  Britain,  Scotland  and  Ireland.  The  horse 
and  the  dog  had  been  domesticated,  for  we  find  the 
bones  of  both  buried  beside  those  of  their  master. 
Chariots  had  been  constructed,  from  which  the  Cale- 
donians as  well  as  the  southern  Britons  fought,  and 
the  construction  of  these,  both  in  the  iron  and  wood 
work,  must  have  required  considerable  skill.  Large 
bodies  of  men  were  brought  together  to  oppose  the 
Eoman  legions,  and  the  combination  and  mainten- 
ance of  these  required  calculation  and  foresight.  The 
religion,  too,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  mode  of 
sepulture  and  other  indications,  had  undergone  a 
change.  Druidism  had  been  imported  from  the 
distant  East,  probably  by  the  Phoenician  trader.  The 
host  of  heaven,  with  Baal  their  lord,  were  worshipped 
in  our  high  places,   and   tradition  has  pointed  out  a 


1 2  S         EARL  Y  HISTOR  Y  OF  GLASGO  W. 

site  on  the  Castleliill   of   Glasgow  where  the  Druid 
temple  is  said  to  have  stood  and  the  sacred  grove  to 
have    been    planted.      All    these   changes  had  taken 
place  before  the  Eomans  arrived.     But  while  they  did 
not  originate  active  life  among  us,  they  quickened  it. 
They  taught  our  ancestors,  rude   in   comparison   with 
themselves,  new  wants,  and  these  produced  new  efforts. 
They  imported    fresh   seeds    of  art    and    civilization, 
which,  though  they  had   to  encounter  many  a  storm, 
and  were  covered  for  a  while  by  the  broken  wreck  of 
the  empire   itself,  yet  grew  up  afterwards  in  goodly 
shoots.      Above  all,  we  have  to  look   to   the  Eoman 
period  for  the  first  entrance  of  Christianity.      Britain 
possessed  the  Gospel  ere  these  soldiers  of  Italy  left 
our  shores.     In  Scotland  itself  there  are  tombs  that 
tell  of  the  early  entrance  of  the  faith,  where  Christian 
usage   in  the  very  mode  of  burial  is   seen  struggling 
with  heathen  customs.      Near  Alloa,  on   a  little  hill, 
stands  one   stone  that,  with   its  simple   cross   above, 
without  a  date  and  without  a  name,  and  its  antique 
cist  below,  shows  that  there  lies  one  early  Briton  who 
had   heard  the  name  of  Christ.      The    wings   of  the 
Roman  eagle  carried  Gospel  seeds  in  their  flight,  and 
devout   Corneliuses  were  doubtless   found   even  here. 
That  word   upon   the   cross,  Jesus   of  Nazareth,   was 
written  in  Latin,   to  predict    triumphs    through  that 
languaQ-e ;  a  centurion   beneath   its  shadow  confessed 
Him  to  be   the   Son   of  God,  and  the  words  of  that 
fettered  prisoner    in   Rome,   the  great  apostle  of  the 


EARL Y  HISTOR  V  OF  GLASGO IV.         1 29 

Gentiles,  captive  for  the  Gospel's  sake,  were  finding 
their  way  from  his  prison,  along  the  far-stretching 
roads  of  Eoman  dominion.  The  nation  that  had  gone 
forth  to  subdue  and  enyoke  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world  was  being  employed  by  God  to  give  them  the 
truth  that  was  to  free  and  elevate  them.  '  Out  of 
the  devourer  came  forth  meat,  and  out  of  the  strong 
came  forth  sweetness.' 

III. — The  Church  of  Kentigeen. 

Full  GOO  years  before  the  first  stone  of  our  present 
venerable  cathedral  was  laid,  a  Christian  church  was 
standing  on  that  height  beneath  which  are  now  the 
dwellings  of  360,000  men.-^  This  church,  indeed, 
must  have  been  of  the  most  primitive  kind.  There 
is  good  reason  to  believe  that  there  was  not  a  single 
stone  in  the  structure.  It  was  built  of  wood  (cut 
oak,  as  Bede  calls  it),  and  wattled  twigs,  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  age ;  and  in  the  plaited  tracery 
that  necessarily  resulted  from  the  materials  some  have 
seen  the  origin  of  the  stately  Gothic  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Beside  this  simple  edifice  on  the  height  above 
the  Molendinar  there  was  not  even  a  round  tower,  as 
is  found  at  Brechin  and  Abernethy,  and  in  conjunction 
with  many  of  the  early  churches  of  Ireland,  built 
partly  for  the  purpose  of  a  belfry,  and  partly  as  a 
defence  for  the  sacred  vessels  and  the  clergy  against 

'^  The  population  of  Glasi^ow  in  1881  was  541,150. 

i 


I30        EARL  V  //IS TOR  V  OF  GLASGO  W. 

the  piratical  hordes  of  heathen  Danes  and  Northmen. 
The  little  church  of  St.  Kentigern,  for  this  it  was, 
had  either  more  faith  in  the  breasts  of  its  ministers, 
or,  what  is  more  likely,  less  wealth  in  its  ecclesiastical 
furniture  to  tempt  the  cupidity  of  the  roving  sea 
kings.  Let  us  hope  that  it  belonged  to  that  class  of 
churches  of  which  an  ancient  father  says  that  the 
vessels  may  be  wooden,  but  the  ministers  golden,  and 
not  to  that  other  kind  of  which  he  complains  that  the 
vessels  were  of  gold,  but  the  ministers  of  wood. 
Humble  as  it  may  have  been,  this  erection  was  a 
house  of  Christian  worship,  and  seems  to  have  had 
some  really  Christian  men  connected  with  it,  and  it 
demands  our  attention  as  a  licrht  shininQ-  in  a  dark 
place.  Besides,  this  little  church,  built  about  1300 
years  ago,  is  the  authentic,  commencement  of  what  we 
now  call  Glasgow,  and  its  founder  and  father  must 
not  be  overlooked  in  a  city  that  to  this  day  boasts 
itself  of  the  name  of  St.  Munfjo. 

Before  coming,  however,  to  St.  Kentigern  and  his 
doings  for  Glasgow,  we  may  glance  backward  along 
the  thread  of  our  story.  The  assaults  of  the  northern 
barbarians  on  Italy  and  Eome  drew  the  legions  more 
and  more  to  the  centre  of  the  empire,  if  possible  to 
ward  off  the  fatal  blows  that  were  being  aimed  at 
the  heart.  The  defensive  efforts  proved  all  in  vain. 
Eome  succumbed  to  the  sword  of  the  Gothic 
conquerors  who  came  pouring  from  the  woods  of 
Germany,    and    the    fall     of     Eome    broke    her    vast 


EARL  Y  HISTOR  Y  OF  GLASGO  W.         \xi 


J' 


dominions  in  pieces.  Tlie  girdling  wall  of  imperial 
power  was  shattered,  the  various  kingdoms  that  had 
been  held  together  by  it  in  unnatural  union  sprang 
asunder,  and  rushing  through  the  open  barriers  came 
the  hungry  wolves  of  the  north,  that  had  long  been 
with  difficulty  kept  at  bay  by  frontier  towers  and 
military  colonies.  It  seemed  as  if  the  fire  of  civiliza- 
tion and  Christianity  itself  which  Eome  had  kindled 
on  her  hearth  were  about  to  be  extinguished ;  but  in 
the  plan  of  Providence  it  proved  only  to  be  fresh  fuel 
heaped  on  it,  through  which  the  fire  has  come  breaking 
brighter  and  higher  tlian  ever — like  a  phoenix  rising 
from  its  own  ashes.  It  is  out  of  this  rude  northern 
material,  fused  in  the  heat  of  Eonian  civilization,  and 
moulded  more  or  less  by  the  spirit  of  Christianity, 
that  our  most  valued  modern  institutions  have  come 
to  us.  In  this  period  of  struggle  and  transition,  let 
us  turn  our  view  to  our  own  country — to  what  is  now 
our  home,  and  cast  our  eyes  over  the  elements  of 
population  found  in  it.  We  shall  see  that  these  were 
of  the  most  diverse  kind,  and  that,  distant  thourrh 
they  were  from  the  centre  of  imperial  power,  they 
could  not  fail  to  be  affected  by  the  change  that  over- 
took it.  The  Eomans  finally  left  Britain  a.d.  426, 
having  had  a  footing  in  it  for  almost  500  years. 
Nearly  up  to  that  time  they  had  maintained  their 
hold  of  the  south  of  Scotland  up  to  the  Antonine 
wall,  between  the  Forth  and  Clyde,  including  the 
district  in  which  we  now  are.     When  they  left,  Scot- 


132         EARL  V  HISTOR  Y  OF  GLASGO  W. 

land,  or  what  we  now  term  Scotland  (for  it  had  not 
then  the  name),  was  divided  among  four  different 
peoples.  First  of  all,  chiefly  within  the  wall,  were 
the  Britons,  the  same  race  that  the  Eomans  first  found 
here,  and  of  the  same  lineage  with  the  modern  Welsh, 
belonging  to  the  Cimbric  branch  of  the  great  Celtic 
family.  They  had  for  their  chief  city  Alcluid  or 
Dumbarton,  and  held  all  the  south-west  of  Scotland, 
including  the  counties  of  Lanark,  Eenfrew,  Ayr, 
Dumfries,  and  Galloway.  They  were  called,  from  the 
strength  of  their  power  lying  in  this  very  district, 
the  Strathclyde  Britons,  It  may  seem  somewhat 
strange  to  think  of  the  Welsh  language  being  spoken, 
at  a  period  not  very  remote,  as  the  universal  tongue  of 
this  district ;  yet  so  it  was.  There  are  traces  of  it  in 
the  proper  names  of  our  neighbourhood.  The  Clyde 
has  its  twin-brotlier  still  in  Wales,  Clwydd ;  Lanark 
has  the  distinct  Welsh  Llan ;  Dumbarton  is  Diim- 
hriton,  '  the  hill  of  the  Britons ; '  Cumbrae  has  its 
origin  from  Cumhri ;  and  Glasgow  itself  is  '  the  grey  or 
dark  hollow,'  from  the  deep  glen  of  the  Molendinar, 
above  which  the  primitive  little  church  that  gave 
origin  to  the  city  was  planted. 

Traditions  of  this  primitive  race  may  still  be  found 
surviving  in  the  mountainous  districts  at  the  sources 
of  the  Clyde  and  Tweed,  fragments  of  their  ancient 
legends  of  Merlin  the  enchanter,  and  of  the  famous 
giant  -  slaying  hero,  whose  exploits,  from  being  the 
entertainment  of  princes  and  chieftains,  have  descended 


EA RL  V  HISTOR  V  OF  GLASG 0 IV.         1 33 

to  be  the  delight  of  boyhood  in  our  time.  A  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  substratum  of  the  population 
in  all  this  reGrion  must  be  from  the  old  British  stem. 

North  of  the  wall,  and  westward,  was  the  kingdom 
of  the  Dalriad  Scots,  occupying  the  present  Argyle- 
shire,  and  spreading  into  Inverness  and  over  the 
Hebrides.  They  appear  first  in  a.d.  503  with  historical 
certainty,  and  with  an  Irish  origin,  though  antiquarians 
are  marvellously  perplexed  as  to  their  more  remote 
birthland,  some  assigning  them  to  Spain,  some  to 
Scandinavia,  and  some  to  Scotland  itself,  whence  they 
suppose  they  had  emigrated  at  an  earlier  period  to 
Ireland.  Whatever  their  primary  origin,  they  came 
first  on  the  stage  of  Caledonian  history  as  a  race  of 
hardy,  enterprising  adventurers,  speaking  the  Gaelic 
branch  of  the  Celtic  language,  and  their  name  of  Scots, 
or  wanderers,  as  it  is  said  to  signify,  has  extended  itself 
to  entire  North  Britain. 

To  the  east  of  the  Scots  was  the  Pictish  kingdom, 
extending  from  the  Firth  of  Forth  northward  through 
Fife,  Angus,  and  Aberdeen,  and  stretching  from  the 
seaboard  inward,  till  it  met  the  rough  outline  of  those 
mountains  that  were  becoming  already  the  home  of 
the  Scottish  clans.  Of  what  race  these  Picts  were, 
whether  Celtic  or  Gothic,  has  long  formed  the  vexed 
question  of  Scottish  history,  and  has  perplexed  anti- 
c|uarians  as  much  as  the  pliilosopher's  stone  did 
alchemists,  or  the  quadrature  of  the  circle  the  ancient 
geometers.     The  weight  of  opinion  now  inclines  to  the 


1 34  EARL  V  HJSTOR  Y  OF  GLASG O  IF. 

view  that  these  Picts  were  a  Celtic  race,  receiving,  as 
the  Christian  era  advanced,  large  admixtures  of  the 
Scandinavian  element  from  the  roving  tribes  of  Danes 
and  Norwegians.  Abernethy  formed  long  the  capital 
of  this  ancient  race,  and  their  hands  raised  the  round 
towers  and  engraved  tlie  curious  standing-stones  that 
form  a  peculiar  feature  in  the  antiquities  of  the  north- 
east of  Scotland. 

South  of  the  Forth,  and  spreading  themselves  over 
the  most  fertile  counties  bordering  on  England,  Eox- 
burgh,  Berwick,  and  the  Lothians,  appeared  a  race  of 
strangers  with  the  blue  eyes  and  fair  hair  of  the  great 
Gothic  family.  They  were  the  Anglo-Saxons  of  the 
Northumbrian  kingdom,  and  they  were  beginning  to 
spread  themselves  westward  and  northward  until  they 
impressed  their  character  and  language  upon  the  entire 
Lowland  population  of  Scotland.  They  were  the  last- 
ingredient  in  the  constituent  elements  of  our  island 
population,  and,  like  the  iron  deposit  pouring  itself 
over  the  shifting  sand,  they  were  to  give  it  the  rock- 
like compactness  and  strength  which  it  afterwards 
acquired. 

Such  was  the  aspect  of  Scotland  when  Glasgow 
first  saw  historical  light  about  1300  years  ago.  Of 
the  four  principalities  that  then  divided  it,  that  of  the 
Strathclyde  Britons  must,  for  obvious  reasons,  have 
been  at  the  time  further  advanced  in  civilization. 
They  had  been  most  in  contact  with  the  Eomans,  and 
had  gained  some  acquaintance  with  their  arts  of  life. 


EARL  \  HISTOR  Y  OF  GLASGO  W.         135 

They  escaped  for  a  seasun  the  devastating  warfare  that 
wasted  the  eastern  coast  from  the  eruption  of  fierce 
Jutes  and  Angles ;  and,  as  long  as  the  Scots  and  Picts 
were  engaged  in  their  mutual  struggle  for  supremacy, 
they  had  little  leisure  to  assail  the  Britons  of  the 
west.  Here,  then,  if  anywhere  in  Scotland,  we  may 
expect  some  of  the  first  sparhs  of  Christian  light  to 
be  struck  and  cherished.  Early  ecclesiastical  history 
narrates  that  about  a.d.  380  Isinias  or  Ninian,  better 
known  in  Scotland  by  his  name  of  Eingan,  the  son  of 
a  Welsh  prince  of  Cumberland,  visited  Eome,  and, 
having  been  instructed  there,  returned  as  a  Christian 
missionary  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen  tribes 
of  North  Britain.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  Piome 
had  not,  in  those  days,  made  the  arrogant  claims  which 
she  afterwards  obtruded  on  the  Christian  Church,  nor 
had  she  in  her  teaching  departed  so  far  from  the  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints.  Arriving  in  Britain,  he 
tarried  not  in  Cumberland,  but  crossed  the  Solway, 
and  reared  the  first  Christian  church  known  in  the 
history  of  Scotland  upon  the  headland  of  "Whithorn  in 
Galloway,  which  Bede  tells  us  was  built  in  a  manner 
then  unusual  among  the  Britons,  for  it  was  constructed  of 
hewn  stone.  Of  that  primitive  edifice  no  remains  now 
exist.  Ninian  died  a.d.  432,  but  he  left  disciples  who 
laboured  with  great  zeal  and  fervour,  and  who  seem  to 
have  been  successful  in  spreading  the  knowledge  of 
Christian  truth  over  a  great  part  of  Scotland  and 
the  north  of  England.      Among  these  disciples  is  to 


136        EARL  y  UISTOR  V  OF  GLASGO  W. 

be  reckoned  St.  Patrick,  who  was  a  Briton  of  the 
Strathclyde  district,  and  who  was  sent  over  to  Ireland 
in  the  year  after  Ninian's  death.  The  names  of  not  a 
few  others  are  still  preserved  —  Eegulus  or  Eule, 
Adrian,  Woloc,  Kiaran,  Columba  the  founder  of  the 
Culdees  of  lona,  and  Kentigern,  whose  name  stands 
now  associated  with  that  of  Glasgow.  It  is  with  this 
last  that  w^e  are  more  immediately  concerned  at 
present,  and  we  give  the  outlines  of  his  life,  as  they 
have  been  handed  to  us  by  the  ecclesiastical  writers 
of  a  succeeding  age.  He  is  said  to  have  been  the 
son  of  Thametes  or  Thane w,  daughter  of  Lotte,  king 
of  the  Picts,  and  to  have  been  born  about  the  }'ear 
516.  The  name  of  his  mother,  St.  Thanew,  was  given 
to  a  small  chapel  long  afterwards  built  on  the  west 
side  of  Glasgow,  which  by  a  curious  change  passed 
into  the  name  of  St.  Enoch's,  a  saint  whose  claims 
were  both  better  known  and  more  surely  attested. 
The  education  of  Kentigern  was  entrusted  to  Serf,  the 
apostle  of  the  Orkneys,  a  man  whose  name  has  come 
dow^n  with  a  character  for  great  Christian  zeal,  in 
labourino;  on  what  must  then  have  been  the  utmost 
verge  of  the  habitable  world.  The  date  of  the  founda- 
tion of  a  church  in  Glasgow  by  Kentigern  cannot  be 
certainly  fixed,  but  it  would  seem  to  have  been  about 
A.D.  560.  By  all  accounts,  it  was  built  upon  the  same 
site  as  the  present  cathedral  church,  of  cut  oak  and 
wattled  twigs.  The  Molendinar  had  not  then  obtained 
its  name  of  Latin,  if  we  may  not  call  it  classic,  origin 


EA RL  V  HISTOR  V  OF  GLASG  OW.         137 

— the  mill-lmrn,  as  lending  its  waters  to  grind  the 
bishop's  grain.  Yet  must  the  Molendinar  have  been 
then,  what  it  continued  long  afterwards,  a  clear  and 
sparkling  stream,  winding  through  its  dark  hollow 
clothed  witli  the  old  Druid  oaks,  rejoicing  in  its  spring 
primroses  and  summer  wild  roses,  and  glittering  down 
into  a  little  haven  on  the  Clyde,  as  later  pictures  of 
the  city  well  may  show.  Near  the  middle  of  the 
hollow  that  has  given  Glasgow  its  name,  tradition  long 
pointed  out  the  cell  and  bed  wdiere  Kentigern  prayed 
and  reposed,  and  it  continues  still  to  show,  not  far 
distant,  his  last  place  of  rest  amid  the  deep  shadows 
of  the  venerable  crypt,  within  whose  solemn,  awe- 
inspiring  aisles  its  founders  have  sought,  whether  truly 
or  not  we  do  not  inquire,  to  include  the  charm  of 
hallowed  association  in  St.  Mungo's  tomb.  We  pass 
over  here  the  miracles  and  labours  which  monkish 
legends  have  attributed  to  St.  Kentigern,  which  have 
this  reprehensible-  feature,  that  in  many  minds  they 
cloud  his  simple  virtues  and  true  Christian  sj)irit. 
With  the  defects  and  errors  of  that  age  adhering  to 
him,  we  would  wish  to  esteem  him  a  man  who  laboured 
zealously,  and  not  unsuccessfully,  to  diffuse  Christian 
knowledge  and  introduce  Christian  practice  in  a  region 
that  was  then  dark  and  Ijeniulited.  It  was  the  com- 
mencement  of  Glasgow  ;  and,  now  that  we  have  the 
light  more  widely  spread,  and  are  better  assured  of  its 
purity  in  seeing  it  issue  directly  from  an  open  Bible, 
it  becomes  us  to  turn  to  our  origin  and  learn  from  it 


138        EARL  V  HISTOR  Y  OF  GLASGO IV. 

tliat  Glasgoiv  is  to  flourish  hy  the  jyrcachiyir/  of  the  Ward. 
Here,  meanwhile,  we  pause.  In  the  period  that 
follows  the  progress  is  more  rapid  and  decisive,  but 
looking  back  even  from  this  point  we  can  see  that 
there  has  been  advance.  The  huts  are  still  there  on 
the  height,  simple  and  primitive  in  their  aspect,  and  the 
sound  of  hammer  and  forge  has  not  begun  yet  to 
awaken  the  echoes  of  the  Molendinar.  But  here  and 
there  the  thick  woods  have  been  cleared  by  the  arm 
of  the  Pioman  legionary,  and  by  the  iron  axe  which 
the  native  Briton  has  himself  learned  to  wield.  Cattle 
are  straying  in  the  glades,  and  the  green  spots  of  corn 
are  looking  out  here  and  there  on  the  vale  of  the 
Clyde.  Our  own  noble  river  no  more  washes  the 
high  bank,  but  retires  in  anticipation  of  the  city  that 
is  to  descend  from  the  hill  above  and  occupy  the  wide 
plain.  And  there,  as  the  spring  of  progress  and  the 
pledge  of  it,  the  little  church  has  risen,  humble  and 
unpretending,  but  a  star  of  hope  to  all  coming  time, 
and  destined  to  be  the  forerunner  of  a  hundred  Chris- 
tian temples,  set  apart  to  the  service  of  a  pure  Gospel 
and  a  living  God. 

We  must  conclude  here  our  survey  of  the  past,  and 
indulge  the  hope  that  the  exercise  of  thought  has  not 
been  altogether  in  vain.  It  is  something  to  have  the 
horizon  of  our  understanding  widened,  and  to  have 
felt  an  interest  in  persons  and  events  different  and 
distant  from  the  everyday  circle  within  which  we  are 
too  apt  to  seclude  ourselves.     There  is  both  truth  and 


EARL  V  HISTOR  V  OF  GLA SGOW.         139 

beauty  in  the  reflection  of  the  great  moralist  of  tlie 
last  century  (Dr.  Johnson) — '  Whatever  withdraws  us 
from  the  power  of  our  senses ;  whatever  makes  the 
past,  the  distant,  or  the  future  predominate  over  the 
present,  advances  us  in  the  dignity  of  thinking  beings. 
Far  from  me  and  from  my  friends  be  such  frigid 
j^hilosophy  as  may  conduct  us  indifferent  and  unmoved 
over  any  ground  which  has  been  dignified  by  wisdom, 
bravery,  or  virtue.  That  man  is  little  to  be  envied 
whose  patriotism  would  not  gain  force  upon  the  plain 
of  Marathon,  or  whose  piety  would  not  grow  warmer 
among  the  ruins  of  lona.'  There  is  a  token  of  man's 
liigh  dignity  and  destiny  in  this,  that  we  can  send  our 
minds  backward  along  the  stream  of  time,  and  breast 
its  stroncr  current  till  we  reach  the  source.  This 
power  belongs  to  thoughts  that  can  '  wander  through 
eternity,'  and  that  give  in  their  exercise  a  dim  pre- 
sentiment of  an  immortality  that  stretches  still  before 
us. 

'  Yet,  for  this  vision  of  the  Past, 
This  glance  ujjon  its  darkness  cast, 
My  spirit  bows  in  gratitude 
Before  the  Giver  of  all  good  ; 
"Who  fashioned  so  the  human  juind 
That  from  the  waste  of  Time  Lehiiul 
A  simple  stone  or  mound  of  earth 
Can  summon  the  departed  forth, 
And  in  their  primal  freshness  show 
The  biu'ied  forms  of  long  ago. 
As  if  a  portion  of  that  Thought 
By  wluch  the  Eternal  will  is  Avrought, 


I  40        EARLY  HISTOR  V  OF  GLASGO  W. 

Whose  impulse  fills  anew  with  breath 
The  frozen  solitude  of  Death, 
To  mortal  mind  were  sometimes  lent 
To  mortal  musings  sometimes  sent, 
To  whisper — even  when  it  seems 
But  Memory's  phantasy  of  dreams — 
Through  the  Mind's  waste  of  woe  and  sin, 
Of  an  immortal  origin  I  '  ^ 


From  the  survey  we  have  taken,  we  may  be  convinced 
that  there  is  progress  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
The  geologist,  as  he  examines  the  strata  of  the  earth, 
finds  them  rising  one  above  the  other,  carrying  in  their 
bosom  successive  stages  of  development  that  become 
constantly  fuller  and  higher  till  man  appears  and 
crowns  the  whole.  In  the  history  of  man  there  may 
be  traced  a  similar  series  of  changes,  in  which  each 
age  is  an  advance  upon  the  preceding.  There  are 
strata  in  the  annals  of  the  human  race,  with  their 
curious  records  of  the  past,  and  with  progress  inscribed 
upon  tliem  all.  There  is  this  mighty  difference, 
however,  that  in  the  field  of  the  geologist  the  progress 
takes  place  by  the  constant  interposition  of  a  hand 
from  without — every  new  phase  is  a  new  creation ;  in 
the  field  of  human  history  the  progress  is  from  an 
inherent  power  that  operates  within,  a  power  which 
God  himself  has  given  to  man, 

Eeason  itself  teaches  us  that  we  have  now  reached 
a  new  and  higher  order  of  being ;  one  bound  no  more 
by  the  rigid  rules  that  confine  the  instinct  of  the  irra- 

1  Whittier. 


EARL  V  HISTOR  Y  OF  GLASGO  W.         141 

tional  animals  to  the  same  unchanging  round,  but  cap- 
able of  indefinite  and  endless  progress.  All  animated 
nature,  besides,  from  season  to  season  changelessly 
fulfils  the  unerring  impulse  imprinted  on  it  by  the 
great  Creator.  The  bee  builds  the  same  hexagonal 
cell  to  the  murmur  of  the  same  song  as  that  hummed 
by  it  3000  years  ago  upon  these  heights  around.  The 
nest  which  is  shaken  down  by  this  year's  storms  will 
be  built  again,  a  perfect  copy  of  that  which  was  found 
in  our  primeval  forests,  when  as  yet  the  painted 
Briton  wandered  unconstrained  in  their  recesses. 
Man  alone,  bright  with  reason  and  language,  climbs 
the  summit  of  knowledge  from  the  depths  of  ignorance, 
and  adds  to  the  accumulated  treasure  from  age  to  age. 
Let  us  contemplate  the  triumphs  of  ingenuity  and 
industry  that  are  rising  above  the  site  of  these 
primitive  boats  of  the  Clyde  ;  let  us  contrast  the  forms 
of  our  social  life  with  that  which  must  then  have  existed, 
and  we  shall  learn  gratitude.  The  induction  of 
history  at  every  step  repeats  the  words  of  the  wise 
man,  '  Say  not  thou,  What  is  the  cause  that  the  former 
days  were  better  than  these  ?  for  thou  dost  not 
inquire  wisely  concerning  this,'  Never  was  there  an 
age  in  the  past  in  which  the  elements  of  happiness 
were  brought  more  within  the  reach  of  every  individual 
of  the  community.  And,  while  thankful,  let  us  also  be 
hopeful.  The  march  has  not  been  rapid.  It  has 
been  often  uneasy,  it  has  been  sometimes  unequal,  but, 
on   the   whole,  and  looked   at  in  lengthened  vistas,  it 


142        EARL  V  HISTOR  V  OF  GLASGO  W. 

has  been  still  onward.  And  now  we  have  surer 
pledges  of  progress  than  ever ;  the  Bible  and  the 
printing-press — the  last  guaranteeing  the  diffusion  of 
the  first — will  never  let  society  recede.  Ancient  forms 
of  civilization  have  been  covered  up  to  be  explored 
again  in  our  day.  We  are  opening  to  the  sunlight 
the  deserted  palaces  of  Ninevitish  kings,  but  the 
Gospel,  which  casts  its  full,  broad  illumination  over 
the  masses  and  the  millions,  secures  us  against  such 
relapses  as  these.  That  Gospel  itself  is  rising  with  a 
purer  and  steadier  flame,  and  those  men  who  seek  to 
cloud  it,  and  rear  again  the  altars  of  a  deserted 
superstition,  are  surely  attempting  a  vain  work.  The 
past  itself,  which  they  profess  to  worship,  rises  up  to 
rebuke  them.  It  beckons  to  no  return  ;  it  points  with 
every  hand  forward  and  upward.  There,  in  the  future, 
lies  the  home  of  humanity  and  fully-developed  truth, 
and  not  behind  us.  The  wheels  of  the  Gospel, 
carrying  the  world's  happiness  with  it,  may  not, 
cannot  be  turned  back.  '  Its  going  forth  is  prepared 
as  the  morning.'  As  sure  as  the  day  dawns,  and  the 
sun  rises  higher  and  higher  still  in  the  sky,  so  surely 
must  the  cause  of  God  and  man  be  in  the  ascendant 
scale.  Forward,  then,  let  us  press.  Let  us  approve 
ourselves  lovers  of  truth,  lovers  of  freedom  and  of 
all  good  men.  We  must  show  ourselves  resolute  for 
the  right  and  the  true,  while  we  show  ourselves  tolerant 
of  all  who  are  sincerely  seeking  it.  We  must  unfurl 
the  banner  of  a  pure  and  large-hearted  Gospel,  and 


EARL  V  HISTOR  V  OF  GLASGO  W.         143 

manifest  its  influence  in  our  lives  by  labouring  and 
suffering  for  the  good  of  men.  Then  we  shall  find 
that  there  is  something  yet  in  store  for  our  country 
and  the  world  better  than  aught  they  have  seen,  and 
in  our  own  city  we  shall  aid  in  making  the  future  as 
far  surpass  the  present  as  this  present  itself  rises  al.)ove 
the  meanest  and  most  distant  past. 


A  DAY  IN  THE  UPPER   WARD  OF 
CLYDESDALE. 

My  dear  Sir, — I  have  just  received  your  note  with  a 
request  for  an  article  for  the  October  number  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Mar/azine,  and,  on  thinking  of 
what  might  be  most  suitable,  it  has  occurred  to  me 
that  what  is  freshest  to  my  own  mind  may  be  best 
for  your  readers,  and  so  I  shall  give  an  account  of  a 
visit  I  paid  the  other  day  to  the  little  town  of  Douglas, 
not  far  from  your  own  great  city,  and  of  two  things 
tliat  specially  interested  me  there.  I  must  first, 
however,  tell  how  I  reached  Douglas,  and  what  I  saw 
on  the  way.  It  can  be  visited  most  directly  from 
Glasgow  by  the  railway  to  Lanark,  and  the  branch 
from  there  to  ]\Iuirkirk  and  Ayr.  I  came  upon  it, 
however,  from  the  opposite  quarter.  My  residence 
has  been  for  a  few  days  at  Abington,  a  small  \dllage 
on  the  Clyde,  and  a  station  on  the  Caledonian  Eailway. 
Abino-ton  is  a  model  of  cleanliness,  comfort,  and 
general  good  conduct,  where  the  people  retain  much 
of  the  old  Scottish  character  of  a  church-going,  and, 
as  I  trust.  God-fearing  kind,  with  a  spirit  of  inde- 


UPPER   WARD  OF  CLYDESDALE.        145 

pendence  that  respects  the  rights  of  others,  while  it 
knows  its  own, — a  very  different  thing  from  the 
jealous,  boisterous  self-assertion  tliat  sometimes  passes 
for  manliness.  I  was  glad  to  see  on  this  visit  that 
Sir  Edward  Colebrooke  has  been  adding  to  the  number 
of  the  cottages,  or  rather  houses,  for  their  superior 
accommodation  and  appearance  take  them  out  of  the 
class  of  the  old  cottage.  It  is  pleasant  to  see  some- 
thing of  this  process  going  on,  for,  much  as  we  may 
think  of  Glasgow,  its  wonderful  expansion  and  intel- 
ligent energy,  we  need  a  balance  in  the  country 
districts  if  we  are  to  preserve  national  health,  both 
physical  and  moral.  We  want  small  towns,  villages, 
crofts,  for  calming  the  pulse.  The  city  may  be  the 
heart  of  the  nation,  but  there  is  such  a  thine:  as 
enlargement  of  the  heart,  and  that  is  a  dangerous 
disease.  The  landlords  then  are  wise  wlio  try  to 
reverse  the  march  of  depopulation  which  has  made 
so  many  Highland  and  Lowland  glens  grassy  solitudes, 
and  has  added  'field  to  field  that  they  may  dwell 
alone,'  instead  of  making  '  families  like  a  flock.'  There 
is,  of  course,  wisdom  required  as  to  ways  and  means, 
but  the  peopling  of  the  country  districts  should  be 
kept  in  view  by  proprietors  for  social  and  moral 
reasons,  which  means,  in  the  end,  economical  and 
political  ones.  It  will  tend  to  the  equilibrium  of 
society  and  the  good  of  us  all,  and  so  we  hope  Sir 
Edward  Colebrooke's  example  will  be  largely  followed. 
But  to  my  story. 

K 


146  A  DAY  IN  THE 

The  road  from  Abington  to  Douglas  is,  for  the 
greater  part,  the  old  coach  highway  from  Carlisle  to 
Glasgow.  It  used  to  resound  often  to  the  *  clanging 
horn,'  iDut  now,  left  aside  by  the  railway,  it  is  more 
familiar  with  '  the  whistling  of  plovers,  and  the  bleat- 
ing of  sheep.'  It  quits  the  main  valley  of  the  Clyde, 
passes  one  of  its  tributaries — Duneaton  Water  (the 
water  of  the  hill  of  fire),  and  then  stretches,  like  a 
white  ribband,  over  the  brown  moorlands  of  Crawford- 
john.  Those  who  feel  an  interest  in  how  it  strikes  a 
stranger  should  read  a  book  published  a  few  years 
since — the  Joiirmd  of  Bora  Wordsicorth,  the  sister  of  the 
poet,  who  came  here,  with  her  brother  and  Coleridge, 
to  explore  Scotland,  which  was  then,  to  them,  an 
unknown  region.  It  was  a  curious  piece  of  almost 
Quixotic  adventure,  with  their  own  simple-minded 
pony,  which  took  the  place  of  Sancho,  and  with  some- 
thing attached  to  it  which  was  neither  cart  nor 
carriage,  an  object  of  as  great  wonder  to  the  natives 
as  any  of  them  could  be  to  the  travellers.  They  came 
in  this  fashion  from  Cumberland,  up  Nithsdale,  through 
one  of  the  grand  defiles  that  lead  to  Wanlockhead  and 
Leadhills,  and  then  over  the  ridge  of  Glengonnar — the 
stream  of  gold — to  pursue  this  road  to  Lanark  and 
Glasgow.  We  are  particular  about  their  route,  because 
the  genial  editor.  Principal  Shairp,  has  mistaken  it 
from  not  knowing  the  country,  and  sends  them  round 
by  Elvanfoot  and  Crawford.  The  charm  of  the 
journal  lies  in  the  quiet  insight  of  the  strangers  into 


UPPER   WARD  OF  CL  YD  BSD  ALE.        147 

the  heart  of  the  scenery  and  the  people,  and,  almost 
as  much,  in  their  happy  ignorance  of  all  they  were  to 
see,  which  fills  them  with  a  constant  surprise.  Black's 
Picturesqitc  Tourist's  Guide  had  not  been  born,  and 
they  wandered  into  Scotland  like  Adam  and  Eve  into 
the  world,  when  it  was  all  before  them  where  to  choose, 
and  nobody  to  tell  tlieni  what  to  admire.  One  draw- 
back they  certainly  had,  that  they  seem  to  have  had 
as  little  knowledge  of  past  associations  as  if  they  were 
exploring  Africa,  and  as  if  AYallace,  and  Bruce,  and 
the  Covenanters  had  been  among  '  the  brave  men  who 
lived  before  Agamemnon,'  But  "Wordsworth  got  it 
somehow  in  this  tour,  and  it  came  out  afterwards,  with 
fresh  dew  on  it,  in  his  Scottish  sonnets.  In  our 
journey  we  had  one  advantage  over  tliem  in  the  best 
of  guides,  Mr.  Logan,  the  Free  Church  minister  of 
Abington,  wlio  knows  every  nook  that  touches  the 
story  of  Cavalier  or  Covenanter.  It  was  a  bare  wavy 
upland  of  moor  and  moorland  farms  for  nules  on 
miles,  and  a  wavy  circle  of  great  hills  folded  round  it, 
with  glens  running  away  at  every  '  lurk,'  and  all  the 
hills  and  glens  fuller  of  histories  than  of  people.  They 
had  been  the  battle-ground  of  eighteen  hundred  years, 
since  Agricola  entered  them  by  the  pass  of  the  little 
Clyde,  till  Claverhouse  sent  his  dragoons  through  their 
mosses,  and  made  them,  in  the  words  of  Eenwick, 
'  all  flowered  with  martyrs.'  There  was  the  Arbory 
hill,  with  its  threefold  ring  of  fence  peering  over  the 
top,  within  which  the  old  Danmonii,  of  Britisli  stock, 


148  A  DAY  IN  THE 

watched  their  enemies — Eomans,  were  they,  or  Saxons, 
or   Danes,   for   these   valleys  have   had   all   in  turn  ? 
There  was  the  ancient   kirk  of   Crawford,  with  Con- 
stantine,  a  Culdee  saint,  at  its  foundation,  and  not  far 
off,  concealed  by  the  bend  of  the  Clyde,  the  ruins  of 
Crawford    Castle,   where   '  wight   Wallace '   performed 
one  of  his  feats  of  arms,  himself  by  name  and  birth  a 
son  of  the  primitive  race,  not  de  Vaux,  as  some  would 
have  it,  but  Waleis.    Sweeping  round  by  the  Lowthers, 
their   sides   glowing   in  sunshine  and  heather  of  the 
deepest    purple,    were    the     massive    mountains    that 
enclose  Dalveen   and  the  Enterkin,  the   Menock  and 
the  Crawick,  the  first  three  the  wildest,  the  last  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  passes  in  the  south  of  Scotland. 
On  the  extreme  boundary,  like  an  outflanking  buttress, 
was  Cairntable,  on  whose  skirts  the  Douglas  boasted 
he  could  keep  himself  against  English  Henry  and  all 
his  host ;  and,  nearer  and  higher,  Tinto,  with  the  mist 
slowly  rolling  uj)  under  the  sunlight,  as  if  it  promised 
to  show  us  the  far-famed  '  kist '  and  the  '  caup '  in  it. 
Eor  a  lesson  in  the  romance  of  landscape  and  of  his- 
tory, I  do  not  know  any  place  in  the  three  kingdoms 
where  one  could  learn  more  than  on  this  bit  of  road, 
and  he  is  no  true  Scotsman  who  would  not  feel  his 
heart  rise  at  the  reading  of  it.      Within  the  circle  of 
the  hills  there  are  many  things  worthy  of  notice,  were 
there  time.     At  a  little  distance  the  primitive  village 
of   Crawfordjohn  lay   on  its  '  knowe,'  like  Jerusalem 
'  set  round  about  with  mountains,'  but  not  '  compactly 


UPPER   WARD  OF  CLYDESDALE.        149 

built  together.'  It  looks  like  a  cluster  of  Loulders 
from  a  past  epoch,  or  the  town  of  Kendal,  of  which 
Gray  the  poet  has  said,  '  It  must  have  been  built  on 
the  plan  of  partners  in  a  dance  posturing  to  one 
another  in  all  directions,  and  petrified  in  the  act.' 
Nevertheless,  Crawfordjohn  has  a  good  repute  for 
worthy  people,  and  it  has  curious  stories  of  the  old 
times,  of  I'rince  Charlie's  Highlandmen  as  they  passed 
in  the  '45,  and  of  Covenanting  celebrations.  The  lie- 
formed  Presbyterians,  better  known  as  the  Cameronians, 
seem  to  have  chosen  this  district  for  their  renewals  of 
the  Solemn  League  after  the  Revolution.  At  Auchen- 
saugh  in  1712,  the  year  of  the  imposition  of  patronage, 
a  declaration  of  principles  was  issued  which  had  his- 
torical   siirnificance    in    that    time  -  honoured  Church. 

O 

There,  or  at  Crawfordjohn,  I  forget  which,  the  meetings 
and  sermons  continued  three  days,  till  provender 
failed,  and  the  occasion  got  the  name  of  '  preach- 
hunger.'      But  it  is  time  to  get  on  our  way. 

Some  miles  over  the  moor  brought  us  to  a  little  glen, 
bare  at  first,  but  beautifully  green,  and  then  widening 
and  filling  with  wood, — birch  and  rowan  and  oak, — till 
it  led  us  into  Douglasdale.  It  was  like  the  entrance 
to  it,  warm  with  plentiful  trees,  and  rich  also  with 
yellow  fields  among  them,  and  the  peewit  gave  us  over 
to  the  corncraik.  From  the  look  of  it  we  could  believe 
what  we  were  told,  that  the  vale  of  Douglas  is  a  fort- 
night before  the  country  round  it.  For  the  name,  the 
legend    of    '  Sholto    Dhuglas,' — '  See    tlie    dark,    grey 


ISO  A  DAY  IN  THE 

man,' — must,  I  fear,  be  given  up,  and  we  must  have 
recourse  to  the  colour  '  dark  grey '  or  '  dark  green,' 
found  in  the  genius  of  the  place.  It  may  have  been 
the  water,  or  if  it  was  on  an  autumn  day  like  ours 
that  the  first  Celt  looked  on  it,  the  foliage  of  oak  and 
ash  deepening  into  the  forecast  of  fall,  and  the  blue- 
green  Scotch  firs  glooming  more  heavily  in  the  sun- 
shine over  their  red  trunks,  would  bring  the  word 
Dhu-glas,  dark-green,  to  his  lips.  On  the  way  up  to 
the  town,  the  '  Castle  Perilous,'  or  the  place  where  it 
stood,  is  seen  through  the  woods.  Only  a  fragment 
of  the  original  fortress  remains  near  the  modern 
mansion,  and  it  is  hard  to  say  what  made  it  a  pride 
and  a  terror.  It  has  no  frowning  rock  or  lofty  mound, 
and  we  must  set  down  its  strength  to  the  moats  and 
marshes  which  old  Scottish  keeps  coveted,  or  still  more 
to  the  hearts  of  the  race  that  manned  the  walls.  But 
we  have  to  do  to-day  not  with  the  castle  but  the  town. 
It  is  a  queer  irregular  place,  with  its  High  Street 
in  the  lowest  part,  winding  narrow  and  sometimes 
narrower  among  houses  of  all  shapes  and  sizes,  some 
with  signs  of  old  dignity,  and  some  of  plain  modern 
monotony.  In  the  middle  of  the  town,  on  a  swelHng 
knoll  which  looks  down  on  Douglas  Water  and  a  fair 
green  holm,  is  the  first  thing  we  have  come  to  see,  the 
old  Church  of  St.  Bride,  by  whom  the  mighty  Lords 
of  Douglas  were  wont  to  swear  when  they  meant 
never  to  go  back.  It  was  once  a  stately  edifice,  but 
little  more  is  left  than  the  chancel,  restored  by  the  late 


UPPER   WARD  OF  CLYDESDALE.        151 

Countess  with  a  pious  care  for  the  graves  aud  monu- 
ments of  her  ancestors.  The  remains  of  many  of  the 
long  line  repose  below,  and  the  monuments  of  some  fill 
niches  in  the  chapel.  Chief  among  them  is  that  of  the 
good  Sir  James,  whose  story  is  known  to  every  Scottish 
schoolboy,  and  whom  we  always  rank  next  to  Wallace 
and  Bruce  in  the  heroic  times  of  the  national  history. 
He  lies  there  in  dark  stone,  considerably  maimed,  but 
still  conspicuous  in  the  act  of  drawing  his  sword  with 
the  right  hand,  while  the  left  holds  the  scabbard.  A 
man  of  giant  strength  he  was,  skilled  in  all  the  accom- 
plishments of  his  time  as  a  gallant  and  gentle  knight, 
with  a  dauntless  heart  and  stedfast  soul  to  match, 
dashed  in  word  and  deed  with  a  grim  playfulness. 
This  last  feature  comes  out  in  his  compeers,  Bruce 
and  Wallace,  as  we  read  the  old  chronicles, — the  dry 
humour  that  survives  in  many  a  Scot  to  this  day,  though 
Sydney  Smith  had  not  the  eye  to  see  it,  and  English- 
men are  only  beginning  to  find  it  out  through  Dean 
Eamsay.  But  the  first  quality  in  Sir  James  was 
moral,  invincible  loyalty  to  a  cause  that  must  often 
have  seemed  a  lost  one,  but  which  was  the  cause  of 
his  country,  for  the  oppressed  against  the  aggressor. 
All  we  see  of  him  is  in  keeping  with  our  first  glimpse 
at  Erickstane,  when  in  his  youthful  enthusiasm  he 
threw  himself  before  the  uncrowned  Bruce  and  owned 
him  king  at  the  hazard  of  land  and  life,  down  to  the 
time  when,  far  away,  he  cast  among  the  thickest  of  the 
Saracens  the  heart  he  had  often  followed, — '  Lead  on, 


152  A  DAY  IN  THE 

as  thou  wert  wont  to  do,' — and  followed  it  to  die. 
Nor  must  we  forget  that  fine  touch  of  a  nohle  nature 
on  the  eve  of  Bannockburn,  when,  having  gained  leave 
to  help  Eandolph  in  his  pressing  peril,  he  held  back 
wdien  he  saw  victory,  least  he  should  steal  a  flower 
from  his  friend's  chaplet,  '  The  times  then  were  great, 
and  the  men,'  to  adapt  a  phrase  of  Eichter's,  and  we 
cannot  doubt  that  these  things  found  their  way  into 
the  country's  heart  deep  down,  and  long  after  came 
u})  in  other  shapes. 

The  next  spot  in  Douglas  belongs  to  a  subsequent 
time  and  a  different  struggle.  "We  had  heard,  in  an 
incidental  way,  that  the  house  was  still  standing  in 
which  the  head  of  Eichard  Cameron  was  kept  for  a 
night  when  the  troops  were  carrying  it,  along  with 
the  prisoners  taken  at  Airsmoss,  to  Edinburgh.  We 
found  the  traditional  house,  with  a  face  over  the  door 
enclosed  in  a  dull  yellow  border,  intended  for  the  sun 
and  explained  by  the  sign,  the  '  Sun  Inn.'  It  is  a 
quiet,  respectable  house,  and  we  were  kindly  shown 
through  the  rooms  connected  with  the  incident.  On 
the  ground  floor  is  a  cellar  which  is  said  to  have  been 
the  town  prison,  and  the  thick  walls,  the  heavy  vaulted 
roof,  and  the  iron  grating  on  the  original  window 
attest  the  truth  of  the  tradition.  Directly  above  is  the 
room  associated  with  Cameron's  name,  and  known  in 
the  town  as  the  '  stone-room,'  the  only  room  in  an 
upper  story  paved  with  stone,  and  thus  fitted  for 
securing  prisoners  in  a  firmer  grasp.     "While  the  head 


UPPER   WARD  OF  CLYDESDALE.        153 

and  hands  of  Cameron  were  kept  above,  the  prison 
chamber  below  seems  to  have  held  Hackstoim  of 
Eathillet,  reserved  for  the  scaffold  which  he  afterwards 
mounted  in  the  Grassmarket  of  Edinburgh.  On  the 
wall  of  the  house  behind,  joined  to  the  prison,  but 
apparently  at  one  time  a  separate  tenement,  is  tlie 
date  1621,  with  the  initials  I.  H. — A.  C,  the  builder 
and  his  wife,  long  forgotten.  Wodrow  in  his  History 
gives  a  letter  of  Hackstoun's  in  which  he  tells  that, 
when  he  was  at  Douglas,  Janet  Clellan  was  kind  to 
him,  and  brought  a  surgeon  who  stanched  his  wounds. 
The  name  Clellan  belongs  also  to  the  brave  and  good 
soldier  from  this  district  who  fell  in  the  last  fight  of 
the  Eevolution  time.  Might  the  A.  C.  on  the  old  house 
be  a  member  of  the  friendly  family  ?  On  leaving  the 
place  and  passing  down  the  High  Street,  we  saw  an  old 
man  considerably  above  fourscore,  sitting  before  the 
door  of  his  house  and  enjoying  the  cool  of  the  day. 
On  speaking  with  him,  we  found,  curiously  enough, 
that  he  had  been  born  and  brought  up  in  the  house  we 
had  just  left,  and  had  heard  from  his  father  the  story 
of  '  the  stone-room.'  This  carried  us  fully  more  than 
half-way  across  the  interval,  and  to  a  time  when  all 
the  events  were  very  much  in  the  thoughts  of  the 
people.  It  is  a  pity  they  should  be  forgotten,  for  we 
need  their  memory  in  these  days  when  principles  hang 
loose.  The  history  of  Airsmoss  should  be  read  over 
again  in  this  year  of  grace  1880.  It  is  exactly  200 
years  ago,  on   the   22nd  of  last  June,  since  a   small 


154  A  BAY  IN  THE 

body  of  horsemen,  early  in  the  morning,  rode  from  the 
hills  into  the  quiet  town  of  Sanquhar,  and  there,  at  the 
market  cross,  where  an  obelisk  now  stands,  read  the 
famous  declaration  in  which  they  renounced  their 
allegiance  to  the  perjured  profligate  and  tyrant,  Charles 
II.  It  was  a  desperate  act  forced  on  them  by  desperate 
wrongs,  and  those  who  blame  them  should  remember 
that  it  was  only  the  flash  before  the  stroke  of  1688, 
of  which  we  now  enjoy  the  results.  A  month 
after,  on  tlie  22nd  of  July,  when  a  company  of  the 
Covenanters  was  met  at  Airsmoss,  not  far  from  where 
John  Brown  of  Priesthill  was  afterwards  shot  by 
Claverhouse,  they  were  attacked  by  the  dragoons.  The 
hill  vapours  were  lying  low,  and  '  the  bridle  reins  rang 
through  the  thin  misty  covering'  before  the  wanderers 
were  aware.  Cameron,  who  was  among  them,  I>roke 
into  the  memorable  prayer,  '  Lord  spare  the  green  and 
take  the  ripe,'  and,  in  the  deadly  struggle  which 
followed,  he  was  killed,  and  Hackstoun  and  others 
captured.  The  lingering  and  barbarous  death  inflicted 
by  the  orders  of  the  Council  upon  the  prisoners,  and 
especially  on  Hackstoun,  cannot  be  now  put  into  type 
with  proper  regard  to  feeling.  The  head  and  hands 
of  Cameron  were  taken  to  his  father,  then  in  prison  in 
Edinburgh  for  the  same  cause,  and  he  was  asked  if  he 
knew  them.  His  words  are  surely  the  most  touching 
of  all  the  memories  of  that  cruel  time.  '  I  know, 
I  know  them !  they  are  my  son's,  my  dear  son's !  it  is 
the  Lord :  good  is  the  will  of  the  Lord,  who  cannot 


UPPER   WARD  OF  CLYDESDALE.        155 

wrong  me  nor  mine,  but  has  made  goodness  and  mercy 
to  follow  lis  all  our  days.'  After  which,  by  order  of 
the  Council,  his  head  was  fixed  upon  the  Netherbow 
port,  and  his  hands  beside  it,  with  the  fingers  upward 
— a  kind  of  preaching  '  at  the  entry  of  the  city,  at  the 
coming  in  at  the  doors,'  that  told  more  for  his  cause, 
and  against  the  persecutors,  than  all  the  words  he 
could  have  spoken. 

One  cannot  help  weird,  dreamy  thoughts  about  that 
old  house  at  Douglas,  on  the  night  of  Airsmoss,  the 
martyr's  head  in  the  room  above,  the  wounded  prisoner 
in  the  dungeon  below,  Earlshall  and  his  troopers  proud 
of  their  prize,  and  confident  of  their  power  to  hold 
Scotland  down.  But  the  good  Sir  James  of  'the 
bleeding  heart '  and  Cameron's  gory  head  belong  to  the 
same  set  of  events  in  history, — instances  of  seeming 
losses  thrown  by  courage  and  faith  forward  as  pledges 
of  victory, — only,  the  latter  is  higher  and  more  sure. 
We  cannot  help  thinking  that,  had  Sir  James  of  Douglas 
belonged  to  that  later  time,  he  would  have  been  with 
Argyle  and  Warriston  and  Baillie  of  Jerviswood — 
certainly  not  with  Claverhouse  and  Earlshall  and  Lag. 
The  great  men  of  the  war  for  national  independence, 
Wallace  and  Bruce,  Douglas  and  Eandolpli,  and  Walter 
Stewart,  were  the  forerunners  of  the  Reformers  and  of 
the  sons  of  the  Covenant.  They  made  room  for  them  in 
Scotland  where  they  might  'grow  and  stand,'  and  they 
bequeathed  them  their  hatred  of  oppression  and  their 
dauntless  spirit.     They  show  us  how  the  kingdoms  of 


156  A  DAY  IN  THE 

this  world  rise  up,  in  another  time,  into  the  kingdom 
of  our  God  and  his  Christ,  and  how  the  laurels  of 
chivalry  prepare  for  a  nobler  flower  in  the  faith  and 
patience  of  the  saints  ;  for  the  struggle  of  the  Covenant 
was  the  old  battle  in  a  more  sacred  cause  which 
'  raised  the  poor  out  of  the  dust  and  set  them  with 
princes,  even  the  princes  of  the  people.' 

If  our  Scottish  nobility  wish  to  prove  themselves 
worthy  of  their  ancestry,  they  will  go  back  over  the 
degenerate  selfishness  of  the  Stuart  line,  to  those  who 
gained  the  reverence  and  affection  of  the  nation  by 
showing  tliat  they  shared  its  sympathies.  It  would 
make  the  task  of  patriotism  in  coming  times  more 
easy.  It  is  pleasant  to  think,  in  this  connection,  that 
the  spirit  of  the  good  Sir  James  did,  to  some  extent, 
influence  his  successors  ;  though  they  did  not  identify 
themselves  with  the  oppressed,  they  used  their  power 
to  shield  them.  Douglas-dale  was  filled  with  Cove- 
nanters who  were  comparatively  safe.  So  much  was 
this  felt  that,  when  the  jMarquis  of  Douglas  threw  in 
his  lot  with  the  Government  of  the  Eevolution,  800 
men,  the  flower  of  the  West  country,  placed  them- 
selves under  his  orders,  and  formed  the  famous  2Gth 
or  Cameronian  regiment.  Its  first  review  took  place 
on  the  green  field  beside  Douglas  Water,  under  St. 
Bride's  Church — its  first  fight,  at  Dunkeld,  when  it 
drove  back  the  far  superior  force  of  Claverhouse,  who 
had  just  fallen  in  the  pass  of  Killiecrankie.  Who 
can  doubt  that  the   memory  of  Eichard  Cameron  was 


UPPER   WARD  OF  CLYDESDALE.        157 

with  these  men  when  they  fought,  and  with  their 
brave  leader  Cleland  when  he  fell  ?  The  Covenant 
struggle  was  carried  to  its  end  chiefly  by  young  men 
who  filled  up  the  ranks  of  those  who  fell  in  great 
numbers  at  the  Eestoration,  or  shortly  thereafter. 
Of  these,  three  have  left  their  mark  most  distinctly, 
Hugh  M'Kail,  Eichard  Cameron,  and  James  Eenwick. 
M'Kail  is  known  to  us  chiefly  by  his  seraphic  song 
on  the  scaffold.  Death  silenced  while  it  transfigured 
him.  But  Cameron  and  Eenwick  have  left  us  some 
of  their  living  utterances ;  they  are  evidently  imper- 
fectly reported,  taken  down  in  hasty  snatches  amid 
flight  and  fight,  by  men  who  had  often  to  lay  down 
the  pen  for  the  sword.  But  enough  remains  to  let 
us  see  that,  while  Eenwick  followed  as  the  milder 
Elisha,  under  the  Ahabs  and  Jezebels  of  the  time, 
Cameron  was  the  Elijah,  the  lonely  burning  prophet 
of  our  Scottish  Cheriths  and  Horebs.  The  ]Doet  has 
caught  it,  when  he  speaks  of  '  the  word  by  Cameron 
thundered,  and  by  Eenwick  poured  in  gentle  strain.' 
An  idea  of  Cameron's  power  may  be  gained  from  an 
extract  given  by  Dodds  in  his  lectures  on  the  Cove- 
nanters, and  an  idea  at  the  same  time  of  the  power 
that  carried  these  men  through  that  long  weary 
wilderness  march — the  manna  from  the  skies,  the 
water  from  the  rock  that  followed  them.  Nothing 
else,  nothing  less,  could  have  done  it.  Eichard 
Cameron  is  perhaps,  taken  all  in  all,  the  main  figure 
in   that   heroic  period  of  the   Scottish  Church.     The 


158  A  DAY  IN  THE 

most  remarkable  thing  is  that  he  died  very  young, 
probably  not  more  than  thirty,  for  his  exact  age  is 
not  known,  and  that  the  period  of  his  active  effort 
covered  only  months,  not  years ;  but  in  that  short 
burning  life  he  transfused  his  spirit  into  the  heart  of 
the  people,  and  had  his  name  borne  long  after  as  the 
watchword  of  men  willing  to  dare  all  and  lose  all  for 
conscience'  sake.  And  so  we  could  not  but  regard 
with  special  interest  '  the  stone-room '  of  the  town  of 
Douglas. 

The  moral  of  our  story  sliall  be  brief  and  practical; 
I  am  sure  also  it  will  be  pleasant.  It  is  that  the 
young  men  of  Scotland  should  make  themselves 
acquainted  with  this  period  of  the  nation's  history, 
acquainted  with  it  so  as  to  drink  it  in.  There  are 
many  works  that  lie  to  hand — those  of  the  two 
M'Cries,  father  and  son ;  Pollok's  Talcs,  of  the  Cove- 
nanters ;  Simpson's  Traditions ;  Dodds'  Lectures,  with 
which  may  be  conjoined  his  Lays  of  the  Covenant, 
lately  issued ;  Miss  Watson's  Lives  of  Cameron,  Carr/ill, 
Peden,  and  Benwich  ;  for  those  who  wish  to  go  deeper, 
the  publications  of  the  Wodrow  Society  ofi'er  an 
abundant  store  ;  and  for  those  who  would  understand 
the  richness  of  old  Scottish  theology  there  is  the 
admirable  volume  of  Dr.  Walker  of  Carnwath.  The 
next  thing  is  that  they  should  visit  the  scenes,  not  as 
blind  pilgrims  of  Loretto  or  Lourdes,  but  with  an 
intelligent  love  that  will  draw  courage  and  faith  from 
these  noble  memories.     Few  cities  have  the  heritage 


UPPER   WARD  OF  CLYDESDALE.        159 

of  Glasgow  on  the  Clyde — the  lower  windows  of  the 
house  looking  down  through  the  magnificent  Firth 
among  lochs  and  Highland  mountains  and  winding 
shores,  shut  in  by  distant  Arran — and  the  upper 
chambers  opening  on  visions  of  the  '  valleys  that  run 
among  the  hills,'  filled  with  records  of  a  past  which 
may  give  patriotic  spirit  and  Christian  nobility  of  soul 
to  all  who  have  a  heart  to  learn. 


CANADIAN  LETTERS} 
I. 

Canada  West, 
LoNDOX,  January  7,  1863. 

My  dear  Friends, — I  have  now  reached  a  point 
that  lies  far  west  in  the  British  province  of  Canada, 
and  I  wish  to  give  you  some  of  my  impressions  of 
this  part  of  the  world.  I  shall  try  to  do  it  just  as  if 
I  were  in  the  midst  of  you  in  conversation, — an  easv. 
off-hand  talk,  that  may  serve  for  my  contribution  to 
your  winter's  stock  of  information  and  discussion.  I 
shall  begin  by  sketching  rapidly  the  course  by  which 
I  have  come  to  this  place. 

In  the  early  half  of  October,  after  rather  a  stormy 
passage  across  the  Atlantic  in  the  s.s.  '  St.  Andrew,' 
we  sighted  the  coast  of  Newfoundland,  near  the  Straits 
of  Belleisle,  and  shortly  afterwards  entered  the  straits. 
From  this  point  to  Quebec  the  distance  was  still  750 
miles.  The  first  view  of  the  New  World  was  bleak 
enough.     Newfoundland  on  the  left  seemed  made  up 

>  Written  to  the  Young  Men's  Literaiy  Association,  SyJuey  Place 
Cliurcli,  Glassrow. 


CANADIAN  LE  TTERS.  1 6 1 

of  low  barren  hills,  surrounding  numberless  little  bays 
and  creeks,  and  on  the  right  Labrador  appeared  even 
more  uninviting,  the  shore  fringed  witli  cliff  and  ice, 
and  the  background  stunted  brushwood.  There  is, 
however,  wealth  in  the  seas  around,  the  l!^ewfoundland 
cod  and  Labrador  herring  being  exported  in  great 
quantities  ;  and  in  the  interior  of  Newfoundland  mines 
are  wrought  to  a  considerable  extent,  chiefly  of  copper. 
On  the  right  hand,  after  entering  the  straits,  we  passed 
the  island  of  Anticosti,  nearly  half  as  long  as  Scotland, 
but  inhabited  by  little  else  than  foxes  and  bears.  The 
soil  and  climate  are  most  unpropitious,  and  only  a  few 
families  are  found  there,  employed  in  superintending 
the  lighthouses  and  the  stores  for  shipwrecked 
mariners.  The  coast  is  a  dangerous  one,  and  two 
wrecks  lying  on  shore  were  visible  as  we  passed.  It 
seems  strange  that  the  climate  here  should  be  so 
inclement,  a  severe  winter  lasting  seven  or  eight 
months  in  the  year,  when  the  latitude  is  south  of 
Ireland.  It  arises,  I  believe,  from  the  absence  of  the 
Gulf  Stream,  which  carries  warmth  to  the  European 
shores,  and  also  from  the  configuration  of  the  North 
American  continent  towards  the  pole,  which  causes 
greater  quantities  of  ice  and  snow  to  remain  in  it  during 
the  summer.  The  course  in  sailing  up  the  St.  Lawrence 
is  south-west,  which  gradually  brings  the  voyager  into 
a  more  genial  air.  Opposite  Anticosti,  Newfoundland 
trends  away  to  the  south,  and  the  Ckilf  of  St.  Lawrence 
becomes  here  a  great  inland  sea,  where  one  may  be  out 


1 6 2  CANADIAN  LE TTERS. 

of  sight  of  land.  New  Brunswick,  Cape  Breton,  and 
Nova  Scotia  would  be  reached  by  sailing  directly 
south,  but  none  of  these  were  visible,  except  the 
summits  of  some  hiLrh  mountains  that  were  said  to  be 
in  New  Brunswick.  The  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
pro]3er  is  then  reached,  with  the  Canadian  shore  on 
both  sides,  though  the  water  is  still  salt,  and  it  is 
impossible  to  see  across  from  land  to  land.  The 
northern  shore  is  thinly  peopled  ;  the  southern,  along 
which  our  course  lay,  is  more  populous.  The  popula- 
tion is  located  almost  entirely  on  the  bank  of  the 
river,  and  is  well-nigh  exclusively  Canadian  French. 
Old-fashioned  houses  in  the  French  Norman  style 
succeed  each  other  more  and  more  closely,  till  they 
take  the  form  of  a  continuous  village,  all  fronting  the 
water,  with  a  long  strip  of  cleared  ground  running 
back  from  each  of  them  into  the  forest,  which  here 
slopes  away  upward  till  it  loses  itself  on  the  sides  of 
the  distant  chain  of  the  St.  Ann's  mountains.  These 
people  are  half  farmers  and  half  fishermen,  and  lead  a 
hard,  industrious,  contented  life,  having  little  tendency 
to  progress,  and  small  desire  to  press  westward  like 
the  English  -  speaking  race.  By  and  by  the  land 
is  seen  on  both  sides,  but  the  north  is  still  in  great 
part  unbroken  wood.  It  will  probably  be  the  last 
portion  of  Canada  to  be  fully  filled  up,  and  is  at 
present  valuable  chiefly  from  its  timber,  and  from 
mines  of  very  excellent  iron  and  other  minerals  that 
are  being  wrought  in  some  places.     Before  approach- 


CANADIAN  LE TTERS.  1 6 


J 


ing  Quebec,  the  population  becomes  denser  on  both 
sides  of  the  river,  though  still  confined  chiefly  to  the 
banks.  The  water  of  the  river  is  now  quite  fresh,  and 
some  beautiful  islands  stud  its  surface.  The  folia"e  of 
the  changing  autumn,  which  I  was  just  in  time  to  see, 
was  peculiarly  beautiful.  The  colours  were  vivid  and 
varied  beyond  anything  I  have  seen  in  Europe,  from 
the  dark  purple  and  deep  fiery  red  to  the  most  deli- 
cate yellow.  A  great  chain  of  hills  on  the  north  side, 
clothed  with  forest,  presented  an  appearance  that 
would  seem  to  a  British  eye  utterly  overcharged  and 
unnatural  if  transferred  to  canvas.  The  approach  to 
Quebec  is  exceedingly  fine,  and  the  impression  is  not 
diminislied  by  the  various  views  from  points  around 
the  city.  Very  few  places  in  tlie  Old  AVorld  will 
compare  with  it  for  position.  The  river,  narrow  above, 
that  is,  comparatively  narrow  (about  a  mile),  and 
flowing  between  high  precipitous  banks,  here  widens 
out  into  a  beautiful  bay  many  miles  in  circuit,  broken 
by  projecting  headlands  and  wooded  islands,  with 
winding  channels  and  smaller  bays,  in  one  of  which 
the  famed  Montmorenci  Fall  thunders  into  the  St. 
Lawrence  from  a  height  of  280  feet,  while  a  noble 
chain  of  mountains  sweeps  round,  and  bounds  the 
view  to  the  north.  Quebec  stands  at  the  foot,  and 
climbs  up  the  side  of  a  bold  cape  that  runs  out  on  the 
bay.  On  the  summit,  called  Cape  Diamond,  is  the 
citadel  of  Quebec,  the  Gibraltar  of  the  Xew  World. 
It  was  taken  by  AVolfe  in  1759,  he  and  the  equally 


i64  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

gallant  Montcalm  falling  in  the  battle  on  the  heights 
of  Abraham  behind  the  citadel.     Its  conquest  decided 
the  supremacy  for  the  time  being  of  British  power  in 
North  America.      One  may  see  the  spot  where  Wolfe 
fell,  the  narrow  cove  by  which  he  scaled  the  cliffs  and 
surprised   the    French,  the   reach   in  the  river   down 
which  he  drifted  with  muffled  oars,  while  he  repeated 
to  his  officers  Gray's  Majy,  and  said  he  would  rather 
be    the   author   of   that   poem  than  the  conqueror  of 
Quebec.     A  monument  erected  to  Wolfe  and  Mont- 
calm jointly  now  graces  one  of  the  highest  points  in 
the  city  of  Quebec,  and  unites  tlie  memories  of  two 
high-spirited  and  patriotic  men.     The  city  of  Quebec, 
which  has  a  population  of  above  50,000,^  possesses  few 
things  that  are  attractive  except  its  site.     The  upper 
town   has   some  good  streets,  but  the  lower  town  is 
narrow,  filthy,  and  in  some  parts  ill-conditioned  and 
wretched,  regarding   it  by  the  measure   of   anything 
found   in   European  cities.     The   population  is    more 
than  two-thirds  French  Canadian  and  lioman  Catholic. 
From  Quebec  my  course  was  by  the  river  St.  Lawrence 
to  Montreal,   a  distance   of    about    180    miles.     The 
voyage  was   performed  chiefly  during  the  night,  but 
what  I  saw  of  the  banks  resembled  the  country  below 
Quebec.      There  was  abundance  of  wood,  not  the  old 
primeval  forest,  but  an  after-growth  of  diminished  size, 
that   fringed  the  river  and   ran  away  back  into  the 
interior,  broken  by  clearings  and  lines  of  houses  that 

^  62,446  in  1881,  but  now  dtdiiiiiig. 


CANADIAN  LE TTERS.  1 65 

looked  to  tliG  river  as  the  great  liiglnvay.  The  names 
of  the  places  and  the  appearance  of  the  settlements 
showed  that  the  great  mass  of  the  people  was  still 
Canadian  French.  Montreal  is  the  largest  town  in 
Canada,  having  about  110,000  inhabitants,^  and  the 
promise  of  a  rapid  increase  from  its  advantageous 
position.  It  is  built  chietiy  on  a  plain  bordering  the 
St.  Lawrence,  and  has  a  line  of  quays  accessible  to  the 
largest  vessels,  with  a  handsome  frontage  of  stately 
warehouses.  Tlie  streets  of  the  commercial  part  of  the 
city  are  broad  and  business-like,  and  have  public  struc- 
tures interspersed  that  would  do  credit  to  any  city. 
They  reminded  me  a  good  deal  of  Union  Street,  Aber- 
deen, the  blue  limestone,  which  is  the  chief  material, 
having  a  considerable  resemblance  to  the  granite.  The 
picturesque  feature  in  Montreal,  however,  is  what  is 
called  '  the  mountain,'  a  fine  wooded  hill  that  rises 
immediately  Ijehind  it,  and  which  has  bestowed  its 
name  on  the  city,  '  Mount  Eoyal,'  abbreviated  into 
Montreal.  It  forms  a  beautiful  backu'round  from 
every  side,  and  its  lower  slopes  are  being  covered  with 
streets  of  villa-like  residences,  that  display  much  taste 
and  prove  the  growing  wealth  of  the  place.  The  view 
from  the  upper  part  of  the  mountain,  without  being  so 
striking  as  that  from  the  citadel  of  Quebec,  is  yet  ex- 
ceedingly pleasing,  and  has  a  breadth  about  it  that  rises 
to  the  impressive.  The  city  witli  its  spires  and  towers 
lies  below,  and  the  noble  stream  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
1  140,747  in  1881  ;  said  to  bo  now  160,000. 


1 66  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

a  mile  in  width,  sweeps  past  its  wharves,  and  is  spanned 
a  little  way  up  by  that  wonder  of  modern  engineering, 
the  Victoria  tubular  bridge.  A  great  plain  extends 
beyond,  covered  with  villages  and  farm  -  houses,  and 
varied  by  two  or  three  projecting  hills  that  seem  to  be 
the  foreshoots  of  the  mountains  of  A^ermont  in  the 
States,  plainly  discernible  on  the  verge  of  the  horizon. 
On  the  other  side  of  '  the  mountain,'  half-way  up  its 
slope,  and  looking  over  the  isle  of  Montreal  (for  the 
city  really  stands  on  an  island)  is  the  public  cemetery. 
A  finer  position  for  a  '  city  of  the  dead '  cannot  be 
conceived,  especially  when,  as  I  saw  it,  the  primitive 
forest  out  of  which  it  is  cut  was  glowing  in  every 
colour  under  the  touches  of  the  dying  year.  I  saw  a 
good  deal  of  the  religious  life  of  IMontreal,  and  of  its 
philanthropic  institutions,  but  on  this  I  shall  not 
enlarge,  as  I  purpose  afterwards  saying  somewhat  of  it 
separately.  I  shall  only  say  at  present  that  it  seemed 
to  me  marked  by  a  spirit  of  progressive  energy, 
and  that  the  different  bodies  of  Protestant  Chris- 
tians appeared  to  co-operate  with  much  catholicity 
Eomanism  in  this  part  of  Canada  is  still  predominant 
in  numbers,  though  not  in  influence,  and  it  was  a  sub- 
ject of  common  remark  that  the  spirit  of  French  was  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  Irish  Eomanism,  much  more  tolerant 
and  open  to  inquiry.  The  French  Canadians  and  Irish, 
though  agreeing  in  religion,  disagree  in  almost  every- 
thing else,  and  their  union  at  the  poll  is  simply  a  political 
one,  arranged  by  the  priesthood  for  party  purposes. 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  1 6 7 

Trom  Montreal  I  proceeded  to  Ottawa,  a  long  day's 
journey,  partly  by  rail  and  partly  by  steamboat/  The 
rail  is  adopted  where  the  river  navigation  is  impeded 
by  rapids.  One  of  these  rapids,  near  the  place  where 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  Ottawa  rivers  join  is  a  pictur- 
esque point,  and  has  obtained  some  classic  fame  through 
the  poet  Moore,  whose  cottage  is  pointed  out  on  the 
banks.  The  sail  up  the  Ottawa  has  been  compared  to 
that  on  the  Ehine,  but  I  could  discover  no  resemblance, 
except  that  inlioth  cases  there  was  a  river  with  banks. 
The  Ottawa  is  indeed  a  noble  stream,  and  would  be  a 
river  of  first-rate  magnitude  in  any  European  country, 
but  its  banks  are  in  general  low  and  monotonous. 
The  wood,  too,  invariably  disappoints  one  who  has 
heard  of  the  mighty  forests  of  the  West.  It  is  more 
brushwood  than  forest,  low,  thick,  and  unvarying, 
except  where  it  is  broken  by  some  village  or  farm- 
house, the  whole  appurtenances  of  which,  including 
walls,  furniture,  stables,  and  fences,  are  only  part  of 
the  forest  in  another  form.  The  original  wood,  you 
are  told,  has  all  disappeared  under  the  lumberer's  axe, 
and  to  see  it  as  it  was  in  all  its  giant  grandeur,  you 
must  travel  back  where  that  pioneer  of  civilization  is 
still  plying  his  hardy  task.  A  few  trees  I  did  see 
that  for  size  might  have  belonged  to  the  olden  race, 
but  they  gave  unmistakeable  signs,  as  poor  Swift  said 
of  himself,  that  they  were  dying  at  top.  It  is  a 
curious  fact  that  trees  left  alone  or  in  small  clumps 

^  Three  railwnys  now  connect  them  ;  distance,  SA  hours. 


1 6 8  CANADIAN  LE TTERS. 

from  the  old  forest  soon  begin  to  droop  as  if  they 
missed  their  companions,  and  stand  ere  long  blasted 
trunks.  They  grow  well  enough,  however,  when 
planted.  The  reason  seems  to  be,  that  the  old  forest 
trees  sheltered  each  other  from  the  blast,  and  when 
they  lose  their  fellows  cannot  change  their  mode  of 
life  to  their  new  circumstances.  But  planted  alone 
from  the  beginning,  they  are  exercised  early  by  the 
wind  on  every  side,  and  strike  down  their  roots  accord- 
ingly. A  law  of  vegetable  life  this,  which  has  its 
correspondence  in  the  human,  and  also  its  moral  if  I 
had  time  to  draw  it.  On  the  whole,  as  you  may  infer, 
the  landscape  of  Canada  is  not  distinguished  by  much 
■variety,  and  probably  never  can  be  to  so  great  an 
extent  as  in  our  own  country.  It  wants  the  great 
constituent  elements  of  mountain  and  sea,  for  even  its 
enormous  lakes  are  a  poor  equivalent  for  this  last, 
being  simply  great  w^ater  -  tracks  for  the  freight  of 
timber  and  bread-stuffs,  and  competing  with  the  sea  in 
little  else  tlian  the  power  of  producing  wrecks  and 
nausea,  for  which  they  have  a  name  beyond  any 
similar  extent  of  liquid  element.  This,  however,  by 
the  way,  and  it  may  be  added  that  we  are  perhaps 
dealing  unfairly  in  comparing  a  country  that  is  still 
much  in  a  state  of  nature  \vith  one  where  the  hand  of 
man  has  for  generations  been  giving  the  artistic 
touches  that  bring  out  beauty  and  variety  from  what 
seems  most  bare  and  common.  Man  can  never  in 
nature  create   the   grand,   but   he  can   the    beautiful. 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  169 

Yet  in  Canada  as  it  now  is,  there  are  points  that  stand 
out  marked  by  the  hand  of  Nature.  Quebec  is  one  of 
these  and  the  finest  of  all,  Montreal  is  another,  and 
Ottawa  city  is  a  third.  You  are  probably  aware  that 
this  last  has  been  fixed  on  by  the  Queen  as  the  site  of 
the  capital  of  the  now  united  province  of  Canada. 
Quebec,  Montreal,  Kingston,  and  Toronto  put  in  their 
claims,  and  the  contest  was  peculiarly  keen  between 
Upper  and  Lower  Canada,  as  the  position  of  the  capital 
would  involve  at  least  the  temporary  predominance  of 
the  English  or  French  element.  The  Queen,  to  whom 
the  question  was  referred  as  being  too  difficult  and 
delicate  for  provincial  solution,  preferred  Ottawa,  to 
the  displeasure  of  course  of  every  one  of  the  other 
candidates,  and  to  the  general  surprise  of  Canada. 
Ottawa  has  but  lately  emerged  into  notice  from  the 
obscure  name  of  Bytown ;  it  is  the  smallest  of  all  the 
competitors,  having  only  15,000  inhabitants,^  and  is 
far  removed  from  the  great  thoroughfare  of  traffic  in 
the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  reasons  that 
seem  to  have  influenced  the  Queen's  counsellors  are 
these  :  all  the  other  candidates  were  decidedly  either 
in  LTpper  or  Lower  Canada,  but  Ottawa  is  on  the 
boundary  of  both  provinces,  the  river  Ottawa  form- 
ing a  marked  division  between  the  French  and 
English  populations.  It  was  therefore  a  compromise 
by  an  arbiter,  where  the  disputants,  if  left  to  them- 
selves,  might   have   pushed  the  case  to  a  disruption. 

'  27,412  in  1881. 


I70  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

In  case  of  war,  moreover,  Ottawa  is  farthest  removed 
from  the  frontier  of  the  United  States,  and  is  suscep- 
tible of  being  strongly  fortified.  Although  in  a  jDarfc 
of  the  country  that  has  not  yet  been  fully  opened  up, 
it  has  a  great  extent  of  the  very  best  land  around  it, 
and  needs  only  some  stimulus  to  become  a  thriving 
and  populous  centre.  All  these  considerations  seem 
to  have  entered  into  the  decision  of  the  Home  Govern- 
ment, and  though  it  occasioned  at  first  surprise,  and  a 
good  deal  of  dissatisfaction  in  Canada,  it  has  secured 
acquiescence  in  the  bulk  of  the  community.  It  is 
true  that,  though  the  public  works  have  commenced,  and 
are  far  advanced  to  completion,  there  are  parties  who 
still  wisli  it  to  be  regarded  as  an  open  question,  and 
agitate  for  some  other  point ;  but  the  safety  of  Ottawa 
lies  in  this,  that  there  is  no  other  point  on  which  all 
parties  can  so  well  agree.  I  think,  then,  we  may 
regard  Ottawa  as  the  future  capital  of  the  Canadas, 
and  it  is  matter  of  congratulation  that  the  site  is  one 
well  worthy  of  the  dignity.  The  river  has  a  breadth 
and  volume  that  make  it  the  equal  of  the  Ehine,  and 
here  if  not  elsewhere  the  banks  remind  one  of  the  hills 
of  Bingen.  They  rise  perpendicularly  to  the  height  of 
some  300  feet,  and  on  the  highest  point  is  ascending 
tlie  Parliament  House  of  what  will  yet  be  a  prosperous 
and  powerful  commonwealth.  I  have  seldom  been 
more  struck  with  any  views  than  those  that  extend 
around  this  structure.  You  can  look  sheer  down  into 
the   river,  which   is   here    strong  and  deep,  and  of  a 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  1 7 1 

colour  intensely  green.  Immediately  above,  its  course 
is  broken  by  a  series  of  rapids  and  cataracts,  of  which 
the  Chaudiere,  or  Caldron  Fall,  is  the  chief.  Tor 
height,  of  course,  it  cannot  l)e  compared  with  Niagara, 
but  it  has  features  of  its  own,  that  prevent  one  from 
speaking  of  it  as  inferior.  Some  terrible  convulsion  of 
nature  has  occurred  here  in  past  ages,  and  broken  the 
bed  of  the  river  into  a  wild  confusion  of  precipitous 
leaps,  rapid  slides,  transverse  barriers,  narrow,  parallel 
channels,  and  subterranean  caverns,  through  which  the 
water  finds  its  way  with  an  infinite  number  of  rushes 
and  leaps,  appearing  and  disappearing  in  manners  the 
most  unexpected,  perplexing  the  beholder  and  even  the 
careful  inquirer  as  to  the  way  in  which  the  different 
streams  reunite  themselves,  where  one  that  enters  a 
cavern  re-emerges,  and  where  one  that  comes  boiling 
up  has  its  point  of  departure.  There  are  endless  bits 
of  scenery  and  little  mysteries  to  one  wdio  has  time  to 
wander  here,  and  from  the  Parliament  Hill  the  dash 
and  rising  smoke  of  the  whole  are  distinctly  visible. 
In  its  downward  course,  the  river  forms  some  fine  little 
bays,  as  if  it  wished  to  repose  itself  after  the  turmoil 
of  the  Chaudiere  Fall.  These  are  walled  in  by  the 
same  precipitous  lines  of  cliff,  not  so  steep,  however, 
but  that  brushwood  and  some  adventurous  trees  can 
clincf  to  their  sides.  One  of  these  small  bays  is  close 
below  the  Parliament  Hill,  and  makes  it  into  a  kind  of 
promontory ;  another  farther  down  is  the  scene  of  a 
fall  called  the  Ptideau  or  Curtain,  where  the  Piideau 


1 7  2  CANADIAN  LE  TTERS. 

river  precipitates  itself  into  tlie  Ottawa.  Across  the 
river  is  tlie  province  of  Lower  Canada,  which  rises  in 
rolling  folds  to  a  wooded  and  mountainous  country 
called  the  Gatineau,  and  is  traversed  by  a  river  of  the 
same  name,  the  boast  of  this  part  of  Canada  for  its 
scenery,  and  joining  the  Ottawa  about  a  mile  below  the 
city.  Toward  the  west  and  south,  the  Parliament  Hill 
commands  a  view  of  a  wide  and  fertile  plain,  part  of 
Upper  Canada,  stretching  away  for  mile  upon  mile, 
till  lost  in  the  blue  distance.  It  is  monotonous 
enough,  as  aforesaid,  to  travel  over,  but,  seen  in  its 
expanse,  it  is  grandly  impressive,  and  when  the  forest 
is  cleared,  and  smiling  villages  and  farm-houses  dot  its 
surface,  it  will  gleam  out  also  into  the  beautiful.  As 
for  the  Parliament  buildings  themselves,  they  are  far 
on  the  way  to  completion,  and  when  finished  will  form, 
it  is  believed,  the  finest  pile  on  the  American  continent. 
They  occupy  three  sides  of  a  square,  open  at  the 
angles  and  on  the  fourth  side.  They  are  in  the  Gothic 
style,  of  fine  stone,  part  Ijlue  limestone  from  the  neigh- 
bourhood, part  a  red  stone  from  Ohio,  and  present  an 
appearance  exceedingly  tasteful  and  imposing.  The 
only  fault  I  could  find  was  that  one  of  the  sides 
of  the  quadrangle  did  not  quite  correspond  in  size 
with  the  other,  and  that  there  was  not  sufficient 
space  preserved  between  the  whole  structure  and  the 
advancing  streets  of  the  city,  which  will  in  the  end 
mar  the  general  effect.  Other  faults,  however,  of  a 
different  kind  are  found  by  the  inhabitants  of  Canada. 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  173 

The  erection  was  commenced  by  the  last  provincial 
government  upon  certain  estimates  that  seemed  mode- 
rate. These  estimates,  as  frequently  happens,  have 
l;een  far  exceeded,  I  believe  doubled,  and  the  expendi- 
ture must  be  much  c^reater  before  the  buildinojs  can  be 
ready  for  use.  The  present  Ministry,  which  came  in 
on  the  ground  of  retrenchment,  has  appointed  a  com- 
mission to  inquire  into  this  and  other  matters. 

The  city  of  Ottawa,  like  the  country  of  which  it  is 
capital,  is  to  be  judged  more  by  its  future  than  its 
present.  There  are  many  inhabitants  in  it  older  than 
its  first  house,  and  I  have  conversed  with  a  good  old 
lady  who  lived  two  months  on  the  site  of  the  Parliament 
House,  in  a  hut  with  a  barrel  for  a  chinniey.  All  was 
then  unbroken  forest,  and  she  had  to  wait  these  two 
months  till  a  road  could  be  cut  to  her  husband's 
concession  twenty  miles  off.  Even  now,  the  jDrimitive 
pine  groves  and  cedar  thickets  can  be  seen  close  at 
hand,  seals  are  seen  disporting  themselves  in  the  river, 
and  a  fox  who  commits  nightly  depredations  on  the 
poultry  has  his  headquarters  beneath  the  Parliament 
House,  and  defies  dislodgment.  The  town  is  already 
stretching  out  around,  occupying  at  least  three  times  the 
space  that  would  be  allotted  to  the  inhabitants  in  the 
old  country.  P>road  rectangular  lines  of  streets  run 
far  out  into  the  country,  many  of  them  marked  by 
two  or  three  houses,  some  by  none,  but  all  appearing 
duly  completed  in  the  map.  A  good  arrangement  this, 
so  far  as  light  and  air  are  concerned,  when  the  sun  is 


174  ■  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

in  the  sky,  but  rather  inconvenient  when  night  comes 
into  the  question,  and  rain  or  thaw  sets  in.  Lighting 
and  paving  then  are  felt  to  be  at  a  sad  discount,  or,  if 
attempted  on  a  comfortable  scale,  the  pockets  of  the 
tax-payers  feel  the  burden.  It  is  doubtless  this 
circumstance  that  makes  the  local  taxes  in  American 
towns  a  more  serious  item  than  the  contributions  to 
the  general  revenue.  Other  things  in  Ottawa  have 
commenced  on  a  large  scale.  The  hotels  are  metro- 
politan in  size  and  appearance,  and  several  daily  papers 
waG;e  fierce  warfare  with  each  other.  In  rerard,  how- 
ever,  to  these  matters,  hotels  and  newspapers,  Ottawa 
is  not  distinguished  from  Canadian  towns  of  the  same 
size.  A  stranger  cannot  understand  how  such  large 
hotels  can  be  supported  in  small  towns,  with  no  great 
influx  of  visitors,  and  yet  they  seem  to  get  along  and 
prosper.  The  system  of  boarding,  instead  of  living  in 
their  own  houses,  seems  to  be  that  which  supports 
many  of  them,  although  in  Canada  this  does  not  pre- 
vail to  anything  like  the  same  extent  as  in  the  States. 
As  to  the  daily  papers,  not  much  that  is  eulogistic 
can  be  said.  They  are  meagre  in  general  news,  and 
pervaded  by  a  bitter  spirit  of  personal  attack,  that 
is  happily  disappearing  from  the  old  country.  Yet 
here,  it  must  be  added,  there  are  many  honourable 
exceptions,  and  nothing  corresponding  to  the  rowdyism 
of  the  Xew  York  journals  can  be  found  in  Canada. 

In  Ottawa  and  its  neighbourhood  1  remained  some 
time,  and  returned  to  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence 


CANADIAN  LE  TTERS.  1 7  5 

at  Prescott.  The  season  was  too  far  advanced  for  any- 
regular  steamers  plying  on  the  river,  so  that  I  missed 
the  celebrated  scenery  of  the  Thousand  Isles  at  the 
entrance  of  Lake  Ontario.  I  had  an  opportunity  of 
seeing  only  the  commencement  of  it  at  the  pretty  little 
town  of  Brockville,  wliere  I  remained  a  day  or  two, 
and  then  continued  my  journey  by  the  Grand  Trunk 
to  Toronto.  It  lasted  from  two  in  the  afternoon  till 
twelve  at  midnight,  and  presented  little  variety — tracts 
of  woods,  separated  by  intervals  of  clearing,  and 
occasionally  towns  that  seemed  thriving  and  progressive. 
Of  Kingston  and  its  bay  I  only  saw  enough  to  make 
me  desirous  to  have  seen  more.  This  town  and  Port 
Hope  were  the  only  places  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Ontario  that  ofiered  to  my  eye  anything  of  the  pic- 
turesque. The  shores  of  this  lake — and  the  same  may 
be  said  of  Lake  Erie — are  flat  and  monotonous,  and 
afford  no  points  of  comi^arison  with  our  lake  scenery 
in  Scotland.  I  am  told  that  on  Lake  Huron  and  Lake 
Superior  it  is  otherwise.  Toronto,  where  I  remained 
a  week,  is  the  chief  city  of  Upper  Canada,  with  a 
population  of  45,000.^  It  slopes  gently  upwards  from 
the  shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  and  has  a  number  of 
handsome,  well-built  streets,  resembling  much  those 
that  might  be  met  with  in  a  good  provincial  English 
town.  Besides  some  elegant  churches  belonging  to 
different  denominations,  there  are  two  structures  that 
stand  out  pre-eminent — Osgoode  Hall,  the  centre  of 
^  86,415  in  1881,  now  over  100,000. 


176  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

the  legal  profession  in  Upper  Canada,  and  the  Uni- 
versity of  Toronto.  They  are  in  very  different  styles, 
but  either  of  them  would  be  an  ornament  to  any 
European  capital.  I  have  seen  few  things  to  surpass 
the  University  in  position,  architectural  taste,  and 
general  arrangements.  I  had  an  opportunity  also  of 
examining  the  course  and  examination  papers,  and  can 
testify  as  far  as  my  judgment  goes  to  its  breadth  and 
thoroughness.  Such  a  system,  if  faithfully  carried  out, 
cannot  fail  to  raise  up  men  who  will  be  an  honour  to 
their  country  and  profession,  and  take  rank  with  the 
alumni  of  any  seats  of  learning  in  the  New  "World  or 
the  Old.  Besides  the  University  of  Toronto,  there  are 
various  other  institutions  of  a  similar  character  in 
Canada,  some  on  a  general  basis,  others  under  the 
superintendence  of  denominations.  Of  the  first,  the 
]\I'Gill  College  at  Montreal  deserves  honourable 
mention,  under  the  principalshij)  of  a  very  accom- 
plished man.  Dr.  Dawson.^  The  Wesleyans  have  a 
college  at  Cobourg,  the  Episcopalians  the  Trinity 
College  at  Toronto,  and  there  are  theological  halls  for 
training  the  ministry  of  the  different  churches,  tlie 
Church  of  Scotland  having  one  at  Kingston,  and  the 
Canada  Presbyterian  Church  (Free  and  United)  Knox's 
College  at  Toronto.  The  Eoman  Catholics  have  also 
their  separate  colleges,  both  for  general  and  clerical 
education,  in  Upper  and  Lower  Canada.     Altogether, 

^  Now  Sir  ■William  Dawson.       lie  was  Pj'ewideut  of  tlie    British 
Association  in  1886. 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  177 

the  public  mind  in  Canada  is  directed  very  much  to 
the  question  of  education,  and  the  common  scliool 
system  has  attempted  to  solve  the  grand  difficulty  of 
the  religious  element,  that  continues  so  to  baffle  our 
European  statesmen.  It  cannot  be  said  that  this  has 
been  done  with  success.  In  Lower  Canada,  which 
has  its  own  school  system,  the  Protestants  complain 
that  the  Eomanists  treat  them  in  the  most  intolerant 
manner,  and  they  begin  to  demand  the  voluntary 
system  rather  than  the  present  one  of  State  support. 
In  Upper  Canada  a  contest  is  at  present  going  on 
between  those  who  wish  to  maintain  the  common 
system  and  a  strong  party  who  urge  the  appropriation 
of  denominational  grants.  To  this  last  party  belong 
all  the  Eoman  Catholics  and  a  portion  of  the  Epis- 
copalians and  Wesleyans,  The  Eoman  Catholics  have 
indeed  already  succeeded  in  introducing  the  wedge  of 
denominationalism  in  their  own  behalf  into  the  system 
of  Upper  Canada,  and  labour  incessantly  to  widen  the 
rent,  in  which  they  are  aided  by  the  self-seeking  of 
other  sects.  The  appetite  for  public  funds  would 
seem  to  be  as  strong  here  as  it  is  at  home,  and  the 
wisdom  of  Government  lies  in  circumscribing  the  room 
for  its  gratification.  It  would  conduce  as  much  to 
public  peace  as  to  public  economy.  However  this 
contest  as  to  the  school  system  may  terminate,  there 
is  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  educational  wants 
of  Canada  will  be  attended  to.     The  people  in  the 

Upper  Province  are,  as  a  whole,  alive  to  the  value  of 

M 


1 7  8  CANADIAN  LE  TTERS. 

at  least  the  common  elemmits  of  learning,  and  in  the 
Lower  Province,  almost  any  system  would  be  an 
improvement  on  the  present  one,  which  is  entirely  in 
the  hands  of  the  priesthood,  and  used  for  the  promotion 
of  its  interests.  On  the  whole  question  of  the  educa- 
tional and  spiritual  state  of  Canada  I  hope  to  write 
more  at  length,  only  saying  here  that,  in  the  midst  of 
all  contests  and  drawbacks,  there  are  signs  of  progress 
and  hopes  of  more. 

From  Toronto  I  took  railway  to  Niagara  Falls,  and 
remained  in  the  neighbourhood  about  a  fortnight, 
visiting  that  great  wonder-work  of  God  several  times, 
and  each  time  being  more  impressed  by  it.  I  sliall 
not  here  attempt  to  give  those  impressions.  It  would 
require  a  long  letter  for  this  alone,  and  then  it  would 
be  done  imperfectly.  This  part  of  Canada  was  the 
scene  of  some  of  the  chief  military  operations  in  the 
American  war  of  1812-14,  and  also  of  the  skirmishing 
in  the  insurrection  of  1837,  in  which  American  sym- 
pathizers took  a  part.  As  the  effect  of  this,  the 
Canadian  sentiment  is  there  ultra-loyal,  and  I  found 
the  descendants  of  old  German  Pennsylvanians,  who 
have  not  yet  learned  to  look  at  the  first  American 
Eevolution  as  anything  but  a  rebellion,  and  who  trace 
all  the  present  troubles  of  the  States  to  their  insur- 
rection against  the  authority  of  poor  old  George  III. 
Here  and  in  other  places  I  found  the  descendants  of 
a  class  of  settlers  called  the  U.  E.  (United  Empire) 
Loyalists,  who   in   considerable  numbers   removed   to 


CANADIAN  LE  TTERS.  1 7  9 

Canada  when  the  States  gained  their  independence, 
and  who  had  grants  of  land  bestowed  on  them  as  the 
reward  of  their  loyalty.  They  deserved  it  well,  for 
they  had  endured  much,  and  had  been  treated  with 
great  harshness  by  the  States,  The  unrelenting  severity 
of  confiscation  and  banishment  with  which  these  men 
were  persecuted  is  one  of  the  stains  upon  that  great 
struggle  for  liberty.  Their  descendants,  as  may  be 
supposed,  make  connection  with  the  mother-country 
and  loyalty  to  the  British  Crown  their  boast  and 
principle.  This  feeling  is  shared,  if  not  with  equal 
intensity,  yet  in  all  sincerity,  by  the  overwhelming 
mass  of  the  Canadian  people.  It  seems  strange  to 
witness  the  blindness  of  the  American  newspapers,  and 
even  of  some  of  their  statesmen,  to  this  fact,  and  to 
hear  them  speak  as  if  it  needed  but  a  simple  invitation 
to  bring  the  Canadians  at  once  into  the  Union.  Alons 
with  the  feeling  of  British  loyalty,  there  is  also  growing 
up  a  sentiment  of  nationality  which  would  vigorously 
resist  absorption  into  the  American  republic.  So  far 
as  I  can  judge  of  general  opinion,  an  attempt  to  con- 
strain this  would  lead  to  a  war  as  sanguinary  as  that 
which  now  rages  in  the  South.  Some  may  regret  that 
distinct  nationalities  should  thus  spring  up,  but  it 
seems  the  design  of  Providence,  and  will  probably 
conduce  more  in  the  end  to  the  interests  of  liberty  and 
human  progress.  Let  us  only  hope  that,  in  the  case 
of  Canada,  distinction  from  their  neighbours  may  be 
no  more  embittered  by  the  recollection  of  war,  and 


I  So  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

that  it  may  take  its  own  shape  among  the  nations  of 
the  New  World  by  a  peaceful  and  useful  race  of 
emulation. 

From  Niagara  I  returned  by  rail  to  Hamilton,  at 
the  head  of  Lake  Ontario,  where  I  remained  a  day  or 
two,  and  then  came  on  to  London,  whence  I  write  this 
letter.  Hamilton  and  London  are  both  of  them  like 
smaller  editions  of  Toronto,  diminishing  in  size  as  they 
proceed  westward,  Hamilton  having  a  population  of 
about  20,000,  and  London  of  about  13,000.^  This 
last  is  a  Avell-built,  thriving  town,  that  has  suffered 
somewhat  from  late  disarrangements  of  trade,  but 
promises  to  rise  again  rapidly  with  the  flowing  tide. 
It  is  much  more  metropolitan  than  a  town  of  the  same 
size  would  be  at  home,  having  handsome  banks  and 
extensive  warehouses,  with  the  usual  allowance  of  big 
hotels  and  daily  papers.  It  is  the  only  considerable 
town  of  Canada  that  does  not  stand  upon  a  navigable 
river  or  lake,  but  it  has  tlie  advantage  of  being  con- 
nected with  several  lines  of  railroad,  and  is  the  centre 
of  a  large  agricultural  district,  the  finest  land  in  the 
country.  It  is  on  the  great  land  highway  to  the 
Western  States  of  the  Union,  and  not  far  from  the 
famed  oil-springs.  If  these  last  hold  out,  they  will 
help  the  prosperity  of  London,  although  meanwhile 
the  refining  establishments  do  very  little  to  maintain 
the  good  odour  of  the  place.  But  here  as  at  home 
scent  must  give  way  to  centage.  A  town  like  this 
'  35,961  and  19,746  respectively  in  1881. 


CANADIAN  LE TTERS.  1 8 1 

furnishes  a  good  opportunity  for  comparison  with  those 
at  home  in  social  morals.  So  far  as  I  can  form  an 
idea,  it  is  fully  up  to  our  average,  probably  above  it. 
It  has  its  quota  of  '  drunk  and  disorderly,'  but  they  do 
not  seem  so  sunk  in  abject  misery.  Destitution  and 
rags  do  not  obtrude  themselves,  and  I  believe  do  not 
exist  but  in  a  very  limited  degree.  The  facilities  of 
remunerative  labour  of  course  account  for  this,  and  the 
brief  existence  of  the  town,  which  has  not  allowed  the 
residuum  of  a  fallen  class,  too  often  hereditary,  to  form 
itself.  Whetlier  they  may  prevent  the  growth  of  that 
which  we  are  labouring  hard  to  correct,  remains  to  be 
seen.  If  one  can  speak  of  any  class  here  as  the 
degraded,  it  would  be  the  poor  blacks,  though  I  should 
be  sorry  to  apply  that  term  to  them.  They  are 
numerous,  more  than  in  other  parts  of  Canada ;  they 
are  poor,  and  by  many  they  are  not  kindly  treated. 
With  the  disadvantages  under  which  they  labour,  it 
is  not  wonderful  if  we  find  a  portion  of  them  distin- 
guished by  little  industry  or  morality,  but  not  perhaps 
so  much  as  whites  would  be  in  their  circumstances. 
The  general  accusation  of  sauciness  is  brought  against 
them,  but,  so  far  as  my  experience  goes,  civility  will 
always  elicit  the  proper  response  from  them.  If 
insolence  appears,  it  is  only  as  an  attempt  to  assert  the 
rights  of  manhood  which  may  be  denied  to  them.  At 
present  there  is  a  proposal  in  this  town  by  the  School 
Trustees  to  exclude  them  from  the  common  schools, 
and  to  supply  them  with  the  means  of  separate  edu- 


i82  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

cation.  It  is  done  on  the  ground  of  their  low  moral 
character  and  social  habits,  which,  it  is  said,  affect  the 
other  children.  The  proposal  has  met  with  strong 
opposition  on  the  part  of  the  coloured  people  them- 
selves, and  is  condemned  in  other  parts  of  Canada, 
where  it  is  very  unusual,  if  not  altogether  unknown. 
I  do  hope  it  may  be  repelled,  and  that  the  American 
prejudice  against  colour  will  not  find  an  entrance  here. 
The  poor  negro  has  enough  to  contend  against  without 
this.  It  is  right  enough  that  there  should  be  protection 
for  the  schools  from  the  contamination  of  immorality 
and  filth,  but  let  this  be  sought  by  the  separation  only 
of  the  individuals  affected,  and  not  by  the  exclusion 
of  classes  to  gratify  an  odious  and  unchristian  aristo- 
cracy of  colour.  The  schools  provided  for  the  coloured 
population  cannot  offer  the  same  education  as  those 
for  the  whites,  and  thus  a  portion  of  the  community 
will  be  deprived  of  the  opportunity  of  rising,  and 
doomed  to  a  modified  bondage.^ 

The  church  accommodation  seems  fully  up  to  the 
population.  There  is  one  large  Eoman  Catholic 
church,  two  Episcopalian,  three  I'resbyterian,  one 
Congregationalist,  one  Baptist,  one  Wesleyan,  one 
Episcopal  Methodist  (a  distinction  imported  from  the 
States),  one  New  Connexion  Methodist.  Besides 
these,  there  are  several  smaller  bodies  of  Bible  Chris- 
tians and  other  varieties,  and  two  churches  where  the 

^  There  is  no  jiart  of  Canada  in  which  the  coloured  children  are 
excluded  from  either  the  public  schools  or  the  universities. 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  183 

coloured  population  worship  by  themselves.  These 
last,  however,  may,  if  they  choose,  worship  in  the  other 
churches,  and  occasionally  I  have  seen  them  so  doing. 
The  churches,  you  will  see,  are  ample  vl  lumber,  and 
they  are  generally  large  in  size.  There  is,  however,  a 
considerable  part  of  the  population  not  church-going. 

Here,  meanwhile,  I  must  conclude  this  letter, 
hoping  to  give  on  another  occasion  a  more  general 
view  of  the  country. 

11. 

Having  given  in  my  last  letter  a  sketch  of  my 
journey  through  Canada  as  far  as  London,  C.W.,  I 
proceed  in  this  to  give  some  notices  of  the  country, 
natural,  social,  and  political. 

It  was  John  Cabot,  a  Venetian  in  the  service  of 
England,  who  first  visited  this  part  of  the  coast  of 
America  in  1497.  He  touched  the  exterior  only  at 
Newfoundland  and  Labrador,  and  Canada  proper  was 
not  discovered  till  1535,  by  a  frenchman,  Jacfjues 
Cartier,  who  penetrated  as  far  as  Montreal,  then  an 
Indian  settlement  bearing  the  name  of  Hochelaga. 
The  French  proceeded  to  settle  the  country,  at  first 
slowly,  but  afterwards  with  more  energy,  impeded  by 
wars  with  the  Indians,  and  with  the  English  settle- 
ments farther  south.  At  that  time  the  French  people 
were  distinguished  by  a  spirit  of  colonial  enterprise 
which  now  seems  to  have  forsaken  them.  They  dis- 
covered  the  great    lakes,   traced   the   course    of    the 


1 84  CANADIAN  LETTERS 

Ottawa,  St.  Lawrence,  and  Mississippi,  opened  up  an 
extensive  commerce,  and  seemed  ready  to  assume 
superiority  in  the  whole  continent  of  North  America 
from  Quebec  round  to  New  Orleans.  The  intolerant 
principles  of  French  monarchy  both  in  Church  and 
State  checked  this  growth  ;  Jesuit  control  withered  it ; 
and  slowly  and  steadily  the  French  power  in  the  New 
World  declined.  The  capture  of  Quebec  in  1759  by 
Wolfe  was  the  last  blow  to  it,  and  established  British 
supremacy.  The  French,  however,  have  made  their 
mark  in  Lower  Canada,  and  the  proper  amalgamation 
of  the  race  they  have  left  here  with  fellow-citizens 
who  differ  from  them  in  language  and  religion  will 
be  the  chief  difficulty  of  Canadian  statesmen.  The 
politics  of  the  present  and  future  turn  upon  this 
point.  After  the  conquest  of  Canada,  the  British 
Government  treated  the  French  Canadians  with  great 
justice  and  liberality,  and  this  conduct  prevented 
them  from  joining  in  the  revolt  of  the  other  American 
Colonies  in  1775.  When  invited  to  send  delegates 
to  the  Philadelphia  Congress  they  refused,  and  when 
the  Americans  invaded  the  country  they  met  them 
with  active  resistance.  It  is  a  curious  circumstance 
that  well-nigh  the  only  part  which  remained  faithful 
to  the  mother-country  was  that  which  was  alien  in 
race  and  religion.  After  the  close  of  the  American 
war  in  1783  a  number  of  United  Empire  Loyalists, 
whose  property  had  been  confiscated  in  the  States, 
received    grants    of    lands  in    Canada,   and,   as  they 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  185 

settled  chiefly  in  the  western  part,  the  colony  was 
divided  into  the  two  governments  of  Lower  and  Upper 
Canada,  the  first  being  principally  French,  the  last 
English.  Canada  continued  slowly  to  increase  till  the 
war  of  1812,  when  it  was  calculated  that  Lower 
Canada  contained  200,000,  and  Upper  Canada 
80,000.  The  Americans  commenced  that  war  with 
the  avowed  intention  of  speedily  conquering  and 
annexing  the  country.  The  spirit  of  the  Canadian 
people,  however,  was  thoroughly  roused,  and  their 
militia,  aided  by  the  regular  troops,  defeated  the 
invaders  in  almost  every  action,  and  drove  them  from 
the  soil.  The  events  of  history  thus  far  have  con- 
tributed to  form  for  Canada  a  national  existence 
distinct  from  that  of  the  States.  As  Canada  increased 
in  population  it  began  to  agitate  for  greater  powers 
of  self-government.  Unhappily  the  Ministry  at  home 
did  not  soon  enough  recognize  this,  and  an  appeal  to 
arms  took  place  in  1837  by  an  ultra  section  in  both 
Lower  and  Upper  Canada,  aided  by  some  American 
sympathizers.  It  was,  however,  speedily  put  down  by 
the  united  efforts  of  the  loyal,  and  all  the  demands  of 
the  Canadian  people  were  complied  with  in  1840, 
when  a  legislative  union  of  the  two  provinces  took 
j)lace.  This  was  the  beginning  of  that  Liberal 
Colonial  policy  on  the  part  of  the  Home  Govern- 
ment, which  will  avert  in  future  any  such  unhappy 
war  as  that  for  American  independence,  and  which  is 
building  up  under  the  shadow  of  the  British  Empire 


1 86  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

free  and  attached  commonwealths  all  over  the  globe. 
The  result  in  Canada  has  been  that  a  government  has 
been  established  for  the  united  colony,  with  a 
Ministry  responsible  to  the  people.  The  Constitution 
resembles  that  of  the  home -country,  with  what  would 
be  called  a  character  of  Advanced  Liberalism.  There 
are  two  Houses  of  Parliament,  an  Upper  and  a  Lower, 
but  l3oth  elective.  The  franchise  is  not  universal, 
but  such  as  to  place  it  within  the  reach  of  any  man 
of  common  industry  and  intelligence.  There  is  no 
established  church,  and  all  sects  are  on  an  equahty. 
Self-government  in  the  municipal  form  exists  in  the 
towns  and  also  in  the  counties.  The  laws  for  the 
transfer  and  sale  of  lands,  for  executing  mortgages 
and  wills,  are  exceedingly  simple,  and  might  with 
sreat  advantage  be  carried  across  the  Atlantic.  The 
connection  with  the  mother-country  is  maintained  by 
the  presence  of  a  Governor-General,  who  represents 
the  Queen,  and  whose  assent  is  necessary  to  the 
passing  of  new  laws.  His  salary  is  the  only  burden 
of  an  imperial  kind  borne  by  Canada.  The  troops 
that  protect  the  country,  and  the  arms  furnished  to  it, 
are  at  the  expense  of  the  home-country,  while  Canada 
raises  its  revenue  by  taxing  British  produce  at  the 
same  rate  as  that  of  any  other  nation.  The  effect  of 
all  this  is  that  the  Canadians  are  well  contented  with 
their  government,  as  they  have  every  reason  to  be. 
It  secures  safety,  freedom,  and  economy  (when  com- 
pared with  other  countries),  and  if  they  were  not  loyal 


CANADIAN  LE  TTERS.  1 8  7 

and  peaceful  they  would  be  the  most  unreasonable  of 
nations.  Yet  unreason  often  distinguishes  nations, 
and  therefore  we  must  accord  the  Canadians  the 
credit  of  recognizing  their  privileges,  and  of  being 
thoroughly  well-affected  to  the  mother-country,  while 
they  feel  a  growing  pride  in  their  own  land,  and  its 
rapidly  increasing  resources. 

Let  me  now  come  to  a  view  of  the  resources  as 
seen  in  the  extent  and  character  of  the  United  Pro- 
vince. Canada  is  nearly  1300  miles  in  length,  and 
averages  some  200  in  breadth.  Its  area  is  357,822 
square  miles,  the  proportion  of  which  to  our  own 
country  can  be  estimated,  when  it  is  remembered  that 
the  area  of  Scotland  is  about  32,000  square  miles. 
It  should  be  remembered,  besides,  that  the  whole 
British  possessions  in  North  America  comprise 
2,897,560  square  miles,  and  that  there  is  indefinable 
room,  therefore,  for  the  expansion  of  Canada  to  the 
West  whenever  it  may  be  thought  desirable.^  At 
present  Canada  may  be  said  to  lie  entirely  in  the 
valley  of  tlie  St.  Lawrence,  and  along  the  lakes  formed 
by  it.  This  magnificent  river,  including  these  lakes, 
is  3000  miles  in  length,  and,  witli  the  help  of  two  or 
three  short  canals,  is  navigable  through  its  whole 
extent  for  first-class  vessels.  Its  great  drawback  is 
that  during  the  winter   months,  from   November   till 

1  The  whole  of  British  North  America  (3,'170,392  square  miles,  with 
4,324,810  inhabitants  in  1881)  is  now  embraced  in  the  Dominion  of 
Canada.  U^jper  and  Lower  Canada  are  the  present  provinces  of 
Ontario  and  Quebec. 


1 88  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

the  end  of  April,  its  mouth  is  closed  by  ice,  and 
Canada  is  thus  entirely  cut  off  from  direct  communica- 
tion with  the  ocean  during  a  great  part  of  the  year. 
The  climate  of  Canada,  as  may  be  supposed,  varies  in 
different  parts.  The  Lower  Province  has  a  more 
severe  and  steady  winter,  and  also  greater  heat  in 
summer — the  Upper  Province  having  its  climate 
tempered  by  the  large  inland  lakes.  On  the  whole, 
the  climate  is  colder  than  that  of  Europe  in  the  same 
parallels,  and  the  winter  greatly  more  severe.  The 
thermometer  falls  sometimes  to  40°  below  zero,  while 
in  summer  it  rises  on  some  days  to  above  100°,  a 
very  great  extreme,  and  yet  not  unfavourable  to  health. 
The  air  is  almost  invariably  clear,  and  free  from  mist 
or  fog.  The  sky  is  bright  as  that  of  Italy,  and  tlie 
stars  shine  with  peculiar  brilliancy.  The  dryness  of 
the  atmosphere  makes  the  cold  of  winter  much  less 
felt  than  could  be  supposed,  and  this  season  is 
esteemed  by  many  the  most  pleasant  in  the  year.  Up 
to  within  a  few  days  of  this  date  (the  middle  of 
January),  winter  had  scarcely  made  its  appearance, 
and  every  one  was  lamenting  the  long  delay.  Without 
the  snow,  transit  is  difficult,  the  health  of  the  people 
languishes,  influenzas  and  slow  fevers  spring  up  from 
the  decaying  vegetation,  and  social  life  stagnates.  A 
heavy  fall  of  snow  has  taken  place  with  a  sharp  frost 
of  26°  below  freezing,  and  everything  appears  to  have 
received  a  quickening  impulse.  The  farmers  are 
bringing  in  their  wheat  and  other  produce  on  sleighs 


CANADIAN  LE TTERS.  1 89 

that  glide  on  the  snow  as  smoothly  as  a  carriage  an  a 
rail,  and  indeed  much  more  smoothly  than  most.  The 
streets  are  alive  with  cutters  (so  the  small  drivins 
sleigh  is  called),  making  a  merry  jingling  with  their 
bells,  which  are  necessary  to  give  warning  of  their 
otherwise  noiseless  movements,  and  are  skimming 
hither  and  thither  like  so  many  swallows  on  the 
wing.  The  horses  enjoy  the  sport  as  much  as  the 
drivers,  and  can  scarcely  be  restrained,  so  full  are  they 
of  life  and  spirit.  The  dogs  can  never  be  satisfied 
enough  with  rolling  in  the  snow,  and  snuffing  and 
eating  it,  and  seem  the  liappiest  dogs  alive.  Visits 
are  paid  on  all  sides,  long-deferred  parties  are  made 
up,  and  everybody  goes  about  congratulating  every- 
body else  on  the  happy  change,  and  hoping  it  may 
continue.  The  substitution  of  a  good,  smooth,  hard 
road  for  endless,  bottomless  mud  is  one  cause  of  the 
thankfulness,  the  bracing  frost  that  carries  off  malaria 
and  bad  humours  is  another,  and  more  than  all  is  the 
immense  quantity  of  oxygen  thrown  into  the  atmo- 
sphere, which  revivifies  the  whole  animal  frame,  and 
makes  the  step  light  and  the  heart  happy.  The 
winter  in  Canada  is  certainly  not  what  we  deem  of 
winter,  and  we  must  not  judge  its  five  months'  dura- 
tion by  our  murky  fogs  and  slushy  thaws.  The 
winter  day,  besides,  is  considerably  longer  than  ours, 
owing  to  the  southerly  latitude,  and  is  made  longer 
still  by  the  reflection  from  the  snow.  Probably,  how- 
ever, in   an  economic  point   of  view,  its   long  winter 


190  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

is  against  the  interests  of  Canada.  It  stops  much 
out-door  labour,  checks  the  plough  and  harrow,  and 
compresses  the  work  of  the  farmer  into  such  a  narrow 
space,  that  one  operation  can  scarcely  be  completed 
till  another  is  crying  out  for  instant  notice.  Spring 
comes  in  with  a  sudden  rush  like  the  Solway  tide,  and 
summer  flowers  out  into  instantaneous  blossom.  The 
rapid  transitions  of  nature  form  one  of  the  features  of 
the  climate  of  Canada.  The  sun  rises  and  sets  more 
suddenly  than  with  us,  and  in  a  like  manner  enters  upon 
and  quits  his  work  of  the  year,  so  that  there  is  little 
'  gloamin','  a  smaller  amount  of  the  insensible  bud- 
dings of  April  and  long-drawn  greenness  of  May,  and 
autumn  tints,  though  more  vivid,  are  shorter-lived. 
If  I  might  refer  to  it  here,  human  life  partakes  of  the 
law.  Tlie  child  shoots  up  more  quickly  into  the  man 
and  woman  than  at  home.  The  month  of  May  seems 
blotted  out  of  the  consciousness  of  humanity, — a  loss, 
this,  greater,  it  seems  to  me,  in  the  human  than  in  the 
vegetable  world,  as  it  effaces  one  of  the  most  pleasur- 
able, as  well  as  one  of  the  most  profitable  periods  of 
life,  the  period  that  has  the  keenest  sense  of  joy,  and 
that  receives  the  seeds  of  finest  culture.  Yet  here, 
perhaps,  the  ages  may  contain  some  compensation,  of 
which  we  do  not  at  present  dream.  These  climatic 
differences  in  Canada  bring  a  difference  in  the  out- 
ward face  of  things.  The  bird  and  flower  life  in  its 
prominent  features  is  not  the  same,  and  we  look  round 
in  vain   for   the   most   familiar    things   of   sight   and 


CANADIAN  LE  TTERS.  1 9 1 

sound  that  are  enshrined  in  the  honsehold  poetry  of 
the  old  land.  One  cannot  say  with  poor  Mary  in 
her  prison, — 

'  Now  laverocks  wake  the  merry  morn, 

Aloft  on  dewy  wing  ; 
The  merle  in  his  noontide  bower 
Makes  woodland  echoes  ring.' 


*&• 


The  lark  and  thrush  are  unknown,  save  in  cages, 
and,  for  all  the  woods  of  Canada,  it  cannot  hoast  a 
sinale  cuckoo.  The  fond  recollections  of  the  home 
country  have  fixed  the  well-known  names  on  some 
inhabitants  of  the  adopted  land,  but  how  changed  ! 
There  is  a  blackbird,  but  a  corpulent,  ungraceful, 
tuneless  fowl ;  and  there  is  a  redbreast,  twice  the  size 
of  the  original,  but  he  wants  the  song,  and  he  flies 
from  winter.  The  poor  Babes  in  the  Wood  want  their 
undertaker,  and  the  ballad  as  a  consequence  cannot 
live.  As  might  be  expected  from  the  close  friendship 
between  the  bird  and  the  flower,  our  Old-World 
favourites  of  the  field  do  not  open  their  eyes  on  this 
hemisphere.  The  daisy,  of  course,  cannot  exist  without 
the  morning  song  of  the  lark,  Wordsworth's  common- 
place man  would  find  no  '  yellow  primrose '  to  be  a 
stumbling-block  to  him,  there  is  no  broom  upon  the 
lea,  and  the  '  furzy  prickle '  of  Tennyson  never  '  fires 
the  dells.'  Even  the  hardy  heather  cannot  brave  the 
stern  winter,  and  is  only  seen  occasionally  in  a  flower- 
pot, looking  inglorious  enough,  under  the  fostering 
care   of  some   patriotic   Scotsman,   who    guards  it  as 


192  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

a  precious  morsel  against  the  festival  of  St.  Andrew's 
Day.  To  some,  this  entire  separation  from  the  most 
cherished  associations  of  home  would  be  a  sore  de- 
privation, and  perhaps  it  is  so  felt,  but  it  brings  with 
it  a  chastened  tenderness.  It  is  pleasant  to  hear  the 
parents  trying  to  give  their  children  some  ideaTol  the 
daisy  and  the  lark,  that  they  may  enjoy  the  better 
the  poetry  and  the  story  of  old  Scotland,  and  the 
descendants  begin  to  see  the  land  of  their  fathers 
through  a  lustrous  haze  like  that  which  to  us  rests  on 
the  hills  of  the  olive  and  the  palm.  Canada,  however, 
has  its  own  substitutes,  though  they  have  not  yet 
been  visited  by  the  light  of  song.  Some  flowers  of 
rare  beauty  there  arc,  though  their  season  is  more 
brief  than  with  us,  owing  to  the  summer's  heat ;  and 
many  of  the  birds  are  marked  by  a  tropical  brilliancy 
of  plumage.  I  am  sorry  that  I  have  to  speak  of 
them  more  as  I  saw  them  in  the  museums  of  Montreal 
and  Toronto  than  in  their  native  forests,  but  when 
life  is  poured  into  the  humming-birds  that  seemed  like 
fragments  of  rainbows,  and  into  the  finely  -  tinted 
oriole,  I  could  see  that  the  future  poet  of  Canada 
will  not  want  his  illustrations,  drawn  from  the  nature 
around  him.  There  is  promise  of  his  coming  already, 
and  then  doubtless  his  eye  and  ear  will  discover 
siffhts  and  sounds  that  will  make  the  land  beautiful 
and  dear  as  any  upon  earth.  Canada  is  not  Scotland, 
and  it  would  be  foolish  to  wish  that  it  were,  but  it 
has  features  of  its  own,   and  they  are  neither  mean 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  193 

nor  unlovely.  Before  closing  these  rather  desultory 
remarks  on  the  climate  of  Canada,  I  should  say  that 
it  has  one  season  peculiar  to  itself,  or  rather  to  North 
America,  the  Indian  summer.  This  period  occurs 
generally  in  October,  and  lasts  from  two  to  three 
weeks.  It  is  mild,  slightly  hazy,  and  spoken  of  l)y 
all  the  long  residents  as  specially  delightful.  I  have 
said  by  the  long  residents,  because  some  seasons  it  is 
scarcely  discernible,  and  such  happened  to  be  the  one 
that  I  passed  in  this  part  of  the  world.  A  few  days 
of  doubtful  glimmer  were  the  only  approach  to  it. 
This  curious  phenomenon  used  to  be  absurdly  enough 
attributed  to  the  Indians  burning  the  woods,  hence 
its  name ;  but  the  exact  cause  of  it  has  not  yet  been 
ascertained. 

The  climate  leads  naturally  to  the  soil  and  its 
productions.  It  is  customary  in  tlicse  scientific  days 
to  begin  this  by  a  geological  table,  which  I  shall 
avoid,  and  touch  only  the  more  practical  part  by 
saying  that  the  strata  of  Canada  are  all  beneath  the 
coal  measures,  so  that  this  most  useful  mineral  can 
never  be  found  there.  Whether  it  existed  and  has 
been  denuded,  or  whether  it  was  never  formed,  this 
is  certain,  that  coal  does  not  and  cannot  exist  in 
Canada.  It  is  found  to  the  east  of  it,  in  Xova  Scotia, 
and  to  the  south  and  west  of  it,  and  by  means  of 
railway  and  steamer  it  now  enters  Canada  in  large 
quantities.  For  a  long  season,  too,  if  not  for  ever, 
Canada   will  have   in    its    wood    some   compensation. 


194  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

Each  farmer  for  this  very  reason  leaves  a  portion  of 
his  land  in  the  forest  state,  that  he  may  have  fuel  at 
liancl.  In  defect  of  coal,  Canada  abounds  in  other 
minerals.  The  finest  iron  is  to  be  found  in  the  Lower 
Province.  Lead,  copper,  and  zinc  are  found  abundantly 
on  the  shores  of  Lake  Huron  and  Lake  Superior. 
Silver  and  gold  are  native  minerals,  though  they  have 
not  yet  been  discovered  so  plentifully  as  in  Nova 
Scotia.  Agate,  jasper,  and  the  most  beautiful  marbles 
exist  in  great  quantity.  Petroleum  or  mineral  oil 
has  been  extensively  found  lately,  and  has  taken  an 
important  place  as  an  article  of  commerce.  Fears 
are,  however,  entertained  that  the  supply  may  not  be 
lasting.  I  may  remark  that  it  is  not  clear  whether 
the  origin  of  this  oil  is  mineral  or  vegetable,  but 
certainly  coal-oil  is  a  misnomer.  The  time  will  come 
when  the  wealth  of  Canada  in  these  different  directions 
will  be  developed  ;  at  present  the  main  industry  of 
its  inhabitants  is  turned  to  more  palpable  sources. 
Besides  fishing,  which  occupies  a  good  many  in  the 
Lower  Province,  the  main  elements  of  its  labour  lie 
in  lumbering  and  agriculture.  Lumbering,  which  is 
the  term  appKed  to  cutting  and  rough  -  hewing  the 
trees,  employs  many  thousands  of  hardy  labourers. 
In  the  forests  of  the  Saguenay,  the  Ottawa,  and  other 
branches  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  these  men  are  plying 
the  axe  and  navigating  their  rafts  down  the  rivers, 
acting  as  the  pioneers  of  the  farmer,  and  often  turning 
round  and  converting  their  own  axe  into   the  plough. 


CANADIAN  LE TTERS.  1 9 5 

Some  of  the  most  thriving  men  in  Canada  have  risen 
from  this  employment.  Many  more  are  indirectly 
dependent  on  it,  and  mechanical  ingenuity  in  beautiful 
applications  is  seen  in  the  saw-mills,  lath,  window, 
and  door-frame  manufactories  of  Ottawa  and  other 
towns.  Immense  quantities  of  oak,  pine,  walnut, 
maple,  and  other  timbers  are  continually  floating 
down  to  Montreal  and  Quebec,  to  cross  the  ocean, 
chiefly  to  Great  Britain. 

As  regards  the  agricultural  resources  of  Canada,  it 
may  be  said  that  the  soil,  like  the  climate,  gradually 
improves  as  it  proceeds  westward.  Lower  Canada 
would  please  most  the  lover  of  the  picturesque,  with 
its  ranges  of  mountains,  its  pine-embosomed  lakes,  and 
resounding  cataracts  ;  but  Upper  Canada  would  delight 
the  eye  of  the  farmer.  While  excellent  land  is  to  be 
found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Montreal  and  Ottawa, 
it  is  to  the  western  region,  specially  to  the  peninsula 
between  Lake  Huron  and  Lake  Erie,  that  the  agri- 
culturist by  a  sure  instinct  has  been  pressing,  and 
now  the  settled  districts  are  climbing  up  the  side  of 
Lake  Huron,  and  looking  with  a  wistful  eye  beyond 
Lake  Superior  to  the  far  Eed  Eiver.  That  Canada  is 
a  good  land  for  the  farmer,  and  that  the  soil  in  many 
parts  is  equal  to  any  in  the  States,  I  have  never 
heard  questioned.  The  part  of  Western  Canada  to 
which  I  have  more  especially  referred  is  probably 
superior  to  any  found  in  the  States  under  the  same 
latitude.      The   only    objections    I    have    ever    heard 


1 9 6  CANADIAN  LE  TTERS. 

made  are  to  the  restrictions  with  which  the  sale  of 
land  is  hampered.  It  has  in  many  cases  got  into  the 
hands  of  speculators,  who  maintain  it  at  an  undue 
premium,  but  means  are  being  taken  to  abate  this 
evil  and  to  open  up  fresh  lands.  A  large  quantity 
of  most  excellent  soil  has  lately  been  made  available 
in  the  Manitoulin  Islands  in  Lake  Huron,  by  a  treaty 
entered  into  with  the  Indians.  The  best  proof  of 
the  thriving  condition  of  the  farming  interest  in 
Canada  is  found  by  a  short  residence  in  any  of  the 
hospitable  farmhouses  that  stud  the  country.  There 
is  a  profusion  existing  in  the  use  of  bread,  animal 
food,  poultry,  preserves,  wliich  in  the  old  country 
would  be  deemed  extravagance.  It  may  be  thought 
that  this  very  profusion  argues  the  want  of  a  good 
market  for  the  produce,  and  to  some  extent  there  is 
truth  in  this,  but  to  a  greater  extent  it  arises  from 
that  style  of  good  living  that  has  become  almost 
universal  in  the  land.  The  Canadian  farmer  has  a 
market  that  is  constantly  improving,  and  that  is  at 
this  moment  better  than  that  of  most  of  the  Western 
States,  owing  to  his  proximity  to  the  lakes  and  the 
St.  Lawrence.  I  can  imagine  few  more  comfortably- 
placed  men  than  a  right  -  minded  farmer  who  has 
settled  down  on  Canadian  soil,  with  his  lanc^  cleared 
from  wood  and  pecuniary  encumbrance.  I  can  speak 
from  experience,  having  spent  some  time  with  such 
an  one.  Beef,  mutton,  and  pork  his  own  farmyard 
supplies  him   with  in    all    abundance.      Turkeys  and 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  197 

poultry  of  every  kind  seem  to  have  a  peculiar  habit 
of  thriving,  for  their  number  is  legion.  Bread  of  tlie 
finest  is  baked  in  his  own  house,  from  his  own  flour, 
and  it  never  appears  without  its  friend  the  butter-pot. 
Apples,  plums,  and  cherries  from  his  orchard  come  up 
in  open  form,  and  in  all  sorts  of  disguises.  Corn- 
cakes,  maize-puddings,  and  other  products  of  Yankee 
ingenuity,  sent  across  the  border,  come  in  as  inter- 
ludes. The  farmer  is  hard  enough  wrought  in 
summer,  but  in  winter  he  has  his  time  for  recreation, 
friendly  intercourse,  and  reading.  For  this  last  there 
is  good  opportunity  in  the  plentiful  issues  of  standard 
books  in  Canada  and  the  States,  and  it  is  a  feature 
of  the  country  that  there  are  few  houses  in  which 
comfort  is  at  all  found  that  have  not  their  own  little 
library  and  their  weekly,  if  not  daily,  newspaper. 
"What  the  hazy  Arcadia  sung  by  the  pastoral  poets 
may  have  been,  it  is  hard  to  say,  but,  in  any  case,  it 
was  less  rational  and  pleasurable  than  the  home  of 
an  honest  Canadian  farmer,  above  all  when  Christian 
principle  enters  it,  as  I  hope  it  does  in  not  a  few 
cases ;  and,  when  the  evening  shutters  are  closed,  and 
the  wind  is  heard  swaying  the  pines  without,  and 
the  log  crackles  in  the  clear  frost  in  the  fireplace,  in 
addition  to  the  general  warmth  of  the  diffusive  stove, 
I  think  that  Cowper's  picture  of  a  happy  winter 
evening  is  realized. 

Wheat  is  the  great  staple  of  the  Canadian  soil,  but 
the  Upper  Province  is  more  adapted    to   it  than  the 


igS  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

Lower.  The  heat  of  the  summer  gives  an  opportunity 
for  cultivating  many  of  the  crops  and  fruits  that 
belong  to  the  southern  countries  of  Europe,  such  as 
maize  and  buckwheat,  the  grape  and  peach.  The 
fruit  of  which  Canada,  however,  is  entitled  most  to 
boast  is  its  apple,  which  attains  here  a  size  and 
flavour  not  surpassed  in  any  country. 

There  is  room  in  Canada  to  almost  any  extent  for 
farmers  and  farm-labourers,  who  are  willing  to  submit 
to  some  hardship  at  first,  and  to  rough  labour  in  the 
wood  and  field  for  the  sake  of  growing  independence 
and  comfort  in  coming  years.  For  those  engaged  in 
mercantile  life  the  room  is  by  no  means  so  large,  and 
can  only  increase  as  the  cities  extend  to  meet  the 
wants  of  the  rural  population.  For  mechanics  and 
handicraftsmen  tliere  is  more  room  than  for  the  last- 
mentioned,  especially  if  they  can  adapt  themselves 
to  new  exigencies.  What  is  wanted  in  this  country 
is  not  a  man  who  is  a  mere  part  of  a  machine,  but 
one  who  can  stand  and  walk  and  work  alone.  Capital 
also  would  be  a  great  benefit  to  the  country  if  lent 
out  at  a  moderate  rate  of  interest,  ten  and  twelve  per 
cent,  being  a  very  common  rate  paid  by  farmers  on 
the  security  of  their  own  lands.^  As  to  the  literary 
professions,  Canada  is  making  very  creditable  efforts 
to  raise  them  for  itself.  Its  universities  and  colleges 
are  sending  out  lawyers,  doctors,  teachers,  and  ministers 
of  all  the  leading  denominations.  Still,  in  a  country 
^  Six  per  cent,  is  a  high  rate  for  investments  now. 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  199 

where  material  industry  presents  more  than  usual 
inducements,  the  different  professions  are  more  likely 
to  want  candidates,  and  I  believe  that  not  a  little  of 
the  superfluous  mind  of  the  old  country  might  find 
space  for  exercise  here.  Of  the  want  of  Christian 
ministers  I  hope  to  say  more  again,  and  shall  only 
remark  now  that  a  minister,  if  at  all  acceptable  and 
industrious,  will  not  fail  to  find  his  sphere  and  fitting 
support  in  Canada.  He  must,  however,  be  a  man 
who,  like  the  farmer,  must  often  be  ready  to  rough 
it,  to  preach  at  first  in  very  plain  edifices,  and  sleep 
in  homely  lodgings ;  a  man  of  common  sense,  wdio  can 
make  allowance  for  a  new  country ;  a  man  of  a  con- 
tented temper,  not  over-fond  of  ease  and  dainties ; 
and,  above  all,  one  who  has  his  heart  in  his  Master's 
work.^  Canada  could  yet  take  many  such  to  keep 
abreast  of  the  advancing  tide  of  its  population,  and 
though  I  am  free  to  confess  that  in  many  places  there 
is  a  very  inadequate  idea  of  ministerial  support,  yet 
there  is  progress  being  made  in  this  as  in  other  things, 
and  the  Gospel  will  call  forth  its  response  here  as 
elsewhere,  and  prove  the  labourer  to  be  worthy  of  his 
hire.  It  is  to  be  considered  that  a  sound  state  of 
public  sentiment  in  political  and  still  more  in  religious 
matters  is  of  slow  growth,  that  the  people  of  Canada 
are  drawn,  not  only  from  all  parts  of  the  British 
Empire,  but  from  all  parts  of  Europe,  and  that  most 
of  them  have  been  accustomed  to  the  State  Church 

^  In  the  Presbyterian  Church  the  miuinuun  stipend  is  now  £150. 


200  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

principle,  which  incapacitates  them  for  a  length  of 
time  for  the  support  and  management  of  their  own 
religious  ordinances.  Let  us  be  considerate  and  hope- 
ful, and,  instead  of  wondering  that  there  are  instances 
of  coldness  and  parsimoniousness  in  the  churches  of 
Canada,  we  shall  be  surprised  that  there  are  not  more. 
I  am  now  brought  naturally  to  say  something  on 
the  population  of  Canada  and  its  component  elements, 
as  this  question  bears  very  much  upon  the  present 
state  of  parties  in  it,  and  on  its  future  prospects. 
In  1783  it  was  estimated  that  it  contained  130,000 
inhabitants,  10,000  of  these  being  United  Empire 
Loyalists,  the  rest  Canadian  French.  There  are  now 
nearly  as  many  in  the  city  of  Montreal  alone.  In 
1812  Lower  Canada  contained  200,000,  and  Upper 
Canada  80,000.  In  1851  Upper  Canada  contained 
952,004,  Lower  Canada  890,201.  In  1861  Upper 
Canada  contained  1,396,091,  Lower  Canada  1,110,664, 
— total  population  two  millions  and  a  half.^  The  popu- 
lation of  Lower  Canada,  which  consists  chiefly  of  the 
French  element,  has  thus  been  gradually  falling 
behind  in  the  race,  and  there  is  every  prospect  that 
it  will  continue  to  do  so,  as  the  stream  of  emigration 
passes  it  on  to  the  Western  province.  It  must  be 
admitted,  however,  that  the  last  census  showed  a 
greater  increase  of  the  French  population  than  had 
been  expected.      As   to   religion,   the    population   by 

1  For  Ontario  and  Quebec  the  numbers  in  1881  were  1,923,228  and 
1,359,027,— total,  3,282,255. 


CANADIAN  LE  TTERS.  2 o  i 

last    census,    1861,   may    be    divided    as    follows: — 
Eoman  Catholics,  1,200,863  ;  Protestants,  1,305,890,^ 
so  that  they  are  not  far  from  being  equally  balanced, 
the   great   proportion   of  the   Eoman   Catholics  being 
found,  of   course,  in  the  Lower  Province,  though  the 
Irish    give    a    considerable    admixture    of     the    same 
persuasion  in  the  Upper  Province.     The  Protestants, 
again,  are  divided  as  follows  : — Episcopalians,  374,887  ; 
Methodists,   372,154;  Presbyterians,  346,991;  Bap- 
tists,    69,310;     Congregationalists,     1 4, 2  8  4  ;     other 
denominations    of    all    kinds,    128,264.     It  will    be 
observed    here    that    the    Episcopalians,    Methodists, 
and    Presbyterians  are   nearly  equal.       The  two  last 
have    probably   a    greater    number  of  real  adherents 
than    the    Episcopalians,   as    the    non  -  church  -  going 
class    in    the    country   generally    writes    itself    down 
Church     of    England.      The    Methodists   are    divided 
into    a    considerable    number    of    sects,    the    Presby- 
terians into  two — the  party  adhering  to  the  Church 
of  Scotland  and  the  Canada  Presbyterian  Church,  the 
last    composed    of    the     Eree     Church     and     United 
Presbyterians. 

The  politics  of  Canada  take  their  shape  and  colour 
very  much  from  the  divisions  of  race  and  religion 
above  enumerated,  and  must  long  continue  to  be 
influenced  by  them.      The  business  of  Parliament  is 

1  For  the  two  provinces  the  census  of  1881  gives — Roman  Catliolics, 
1,491,557  ;  Protestants,  1,728,477  (Methodists,  630,724  ;  Presby- 
terians, 468,036;  Episcopalians,  435,336  ;  Baptists,  115,533;  other 
denominations,  78,848). 


2 02  CA  NADIAN  LE TTERS. 

conducted  in  both  languages,  and  every  Ministry  must 
try  carefully  to  balance  itself  upon  members  drawn 
equally  from  the  French  and  English  element.  At 
present,  the  Lower  Province,  notwithstanding  its 
inferiority  in  population,  sends  by  the  constitution  as 
many  members  to  the  legislature  as  the  Upper  Pro- 
vince, and  by  its  power  of  voting  as  a  unit,  through 
the  influence  of  the  Ptoman  Catholic  clergy,  it  manages 
generally  to  carry  its  own  measures.  The  Canadians 
of  the  West  complain  that  though  they  are  a  majority 
of  the  population,  and  raise  two-thirds  of  the  revenue, 
their  interests  are  continually  sacrificed,  and  the 
public  money  squandered  on  objects  that  do  not  con- 
cern them.  The  money  that  should  open  up  postal 
communication  with  the  Eed  Eiver  Settlement,  and 
that  should  give  Canadians  an  entrance  to  the 
agriculture  and  commerce  of  a  great  country  west- 
ward, is  now  being  spent  in  schemes  of  Eoman 
Catholic  colonization  in  the  Lower  Province,  and  in 
making  roads  to  begging  settlements  of  Trappist 
monks.  They  complain,  moreover,  that  the  Eoman 
Catholics  have  possessed  themselves  of  the  national 
education  of  the  Lower  Province  so  as  to  make  it 
thoroughly  sectarian  and  intolerant,  and  that,  by  the 
aid  of  High  Church  Episcopalians  and  others,  they 
arc  striving  to  break  down  the  national  system  in  the 
Upper  Province  and  make  it  the  spoil  of  plundering 
sects.  They  urge  that  the  present  constitution  gives 
the  unprogressive  and  bigoted  part  of  the  nation  the 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  203 

power  of  hanging  like  a  drag  upon  all  movements 
toward  improvement,  because  that  improvement  would 
interfere  with  their  own  selfish  interests.  For  this 
reason,  their  watchword  at  present  is  '  representation 
by  population;'  that  is,  such  a  change  in  the  constitu- 
tion as  would  give  the  Upper  Province  a  number  of 
members  proportioned  to  its  inhabitants.  Tlic  Lower 
Province — at  least  the  French  Canadian  part  of  it — 
complains  again  that  the  French  language  and  race  are 
unduly  depressed,  and  have  not  the  share  in  Govern- 
ment situations  which  proportionally  belongs  to  them. 
In  regard  to  representation,  they  say  that  the  principle 
of  equality  in  membership  was  adopted  when  Lower 
Canada  had  a  larger  population  than  the  Upper  Pro- 
vince, and  it  is  unfair  to  alter  it  now.  It  was  this 
question  of  race  and  religion  that  gave  such  import- 
ance to  the  settlement  of  the  seat  of  government,  and 
it  is  causing  at  present  a  keen  debate  on  a  fragment 
of  the  same  question.  Before  Ottawa  was  fixed  on  as 
the  capital,  the  custom  was  for  Parliament  to  meet 
four  years  alternately  in  Quebec  and  Toronto.  The 
four  years  in  Quebec  are  just  expiring,  and,  as  the 
buildings  in  Ottawa  cannot  be  ready  for  two  or  three 
years  to  come,  the  discussion  is  as  to  where  Parliament 
shall  meet  meanwhile.  The  press  of  Lower  Canada 
contends  that  it  is  a  waste  of  public  money  to  remove 
all  the  governmental  apparatus  from  Quebec  for  so 
short  an  interval ;  and  the  press  of  the  Upper  Province 
rings  with  the  injustice  of  such  an  objection,  and  insists 


204  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

on  its  share  of  influence,  however  brief  may  be  the 
time.  It  is  evident  that  this  is  the  great  internal 
difficulty  of  Canada.  Every  nation  must  have  its 
own,  that  none  may  become  too  arrogant.  Eussia 
has  its  serfdom,  Italy  its  popedom,  Germany  its  im- 
practicable princedom,  France  its  smouldering  fires  of 
revolution,  Britain  had  old  and  now  it  has  young 
Ireland,  the  States  have  slavery  and  disunion,  and 
Canada  has  its  antagonistic  races  and  religions.  How 
the  question  may  be  solved  it  is  hard  to  conjecture  ; 
prophecy  was  always  difficult,  and  it  is  harder  now 
than  ever,  the  turns  are  so  rapid  and  so  strange. 
Wlio  would  have  said,  three  years  ago,  that  tlie  great 
American  Union  would  have  in  so  short  a  time 
stained  its  map  with  so  many  battlefields,  and  that  a 
decree  would  issue  from  the  President  declaring 
slavery  null  in  so  many  slave  States  ?  Politics  march 
with  the  giant  steps  of  mechanical  science.  One 
thing  seems  to  me  more  clear  than  I  formerly  saw  it 
to  be,  that  some  connection  with  the  mothei'-country 
is  most  important,  if  not  indispensable  to  Canada  for 
a  length  of  time.  Without  it,  there  would  be  no 
moderating  element  in  its  politics,  and  Canada  would 
break  in  sunder  at  the  Ottawa.  The  influence  from 
Britain,  though  not  controlling  in  any  way  the 
Canadian  freedom  of  action,  has  a  happy  effect  in 
tempering  animosities,  and  in  coming  in  as  an  im- 
partial arbiter  with  admitted  authority.  This  has 
been   felt   already    in   the    settlement   of  the  seat   of 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  205 

Government  directly,  and  its  indirect  operation  is  of 
even  more  importance.  The  presence  of  the  Governor- 
General,  as  the  representative  of  the  Queen  and  the 
head  of  the  Executive,  saves  Canada  from  the  periodical 
convulsions  of  a  presidential  election,  that  have  done 
so  much  to  demoralize  the  politics  of  the  neighbouring 
republic,  and  to  create  the  animosity  that  has  culmin- 
ated in  civil  war.  A  change  of  Ministers  whenever 
popular  opinion  demands  it  is  more  conducive  to  good 
feeling  and  order,  not  to  speak  of  freedom,  than  a 
battle  every  four  years  for  a  policy  that  may  go  on 
rigidly  in  the  line  of  the  victorious  party,  whatever 
alterations  may  meanwhile  take  place  before  that 
President  can  be  constitutionally  unseated.  In  the 
British  Constitution  we  have  the  great  advantage  of  a 
fixed  point,  in  the  Sovereign  belonging  to  no  party  in 
the  State,  while  the  popular  feeling  can  make  itself 
felt  at  any  time  in  a  change  of  the  Ministry.  The 
President  of  the  United  States,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
chosen  by  a  party,  and  must  continue  to  act  for  his 
term  of  office  in  the  line  of  its  policy,  else  he  is 
unfaithful  to  those  who  elected  him.  Whatever 
changes  may  occur  in  the  popular  mind  during  the 
four  years  of  his  presidency,  he  cannot  be  displaced 
save  by  a  revolution.  It  resembles  a  vessel  that 
would  have  its  helm  tied  to  one  point  of  the  compass 
for  a  certain  fixed  number  of  days,  and  that  cannot 
change  it  whatever  wind  may  blow.  The  danger  of 
the   system   is    illustrated   at   this   very   crisis.     The 


2 o6  CANADIAN  LE  TTERS. 

present  President  ^  was  put  in  to  represent  the  Eepub- 
lican  party,  and  is  in  the  midst  of  his  term  of  office. 
Meanwhile  the  Democratic  party  has  recruited  its 
forces,  and  gained  the  recent  elections  in  all  the  great 
central  States,  yet  it  cannot  control  the  presidential 
action.  If  it  were  strong  enough,  and  not  very 
scrupulous,  the  effect  would  be  the  overthrow  of  the 
President  by  violence.  The  tendency  of  the  whole 
system  of  presidential  elections  is  to  provoke  a  spirit 
of  animosity,  which  has  been  for  years  becoming  more 
intense,  and  is  rendered  doubly  so  by  the  fact  that, 
when  a  new  party  comes  into  office,  all  the  adherents 
of  the  previous  party  are  turned  out  of  their  situations 
down  to  postmasters  and  tide-waiters.  From  this  we 
are  happily  free  in  Britain,  and  Canada  partakes  of 
the  advantage  through  the  connection  with  the  mother- 
country.  There  are  some  wTiters  who  have  compared 
Canada  disadvantageously  with  the  States  from  the 
greater  amount  of  energy  and  progress  manifested  in 
the  latter.  They  compare  the  growth  of  towns  on  the 
States  frontier  with  that  of  those  along  the  Canadian 
line,  and,  finding  it  on  the  whole  inferior,  they  cha- 
racterize the  Canadians  as  lethargic,  and  account  for  it 
by  their  want  of  entire  self-government.  The  most 
recent  of  these  writers  is  TroUope,  the  author  of  A 
Visit  to  America  during  last  year.  But  the  want  of 
entire  self-government  (if  we  can  so  speak  of  it,  where 
the  self-government    is    as  perfect    as    in   the   States 

1  Abraham  Lincoln. 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  207 

itself)  has  not  prevented  Australia  and  New  Zealand 
from  making  a  progress  that  is  unprecedented.  Why 
should  a  similar  connection  with  the  mother-country 
retard  Canada  ?  Moreover,  it  is  unfair  to  compare 
the  frontier  towns  of  a  country  like  the  States,  which 
has  a  far  larger  population,  with  those  of  Canada, 
comparatively  sparsely  peopled.  The  frontier  towns 
are  like  doors  to  a  liouse,  and  will  correspond  to  the 
23opulation  that  uses  them  for  ingress  and  egress. 
The  cities  can  only  be  in  proportion  to  the  people 
behind  them  in  the  rural  districts.  But  take  the 
cities  of  Canada,  and  let  allowance  be  made  for  the 
difference  in  the  general  population,  and  in  soil, 
climate,  and  other  circumstances,  and  it  will  be  seen 
that  their  progress  equals,  if  it  does  not  exceed,  that 
of  the  States  contiguous  to  them.  That  the  con- 
nection with  the  mother-country  is  any  drawback 
to  their  material  progress  is  not  the  opinion  of 
the  Canadians  themselves.  If  the  connection  with 
Britain  is  necessary  as  a  balancing  power  within 
Canada,  it  is  not  less  so  to  secure  its  independence 
without.  There  are  two  separate  dangers.  The  one 
is  that,  if  British  sovereignty  were  withdrawn,  tlie 
French  Canadians  would  be  ready  to  establish  a  con- 
nection with  France,  with  which  they  have  the  strong 
bond  of  race  and  religion.  They  would  thus  interpose 
between  the  Upper  Canadians  and  the  sea,  and  cut 
them  off  from  the  natural  alliance  which  must  connect 
them  more  and  more  with  their  brethren  of  the  Lower 


2o8  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

Provinces  in  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia.  Even 
as  it  is,  and  comparing  as  they  may  their  own  freedom 
with  the  despotism  that  reigns  in  France,  the  pre- 
dilection of  nationality  is  ever  and  again  breaking  out. 
While  British  connection  continues,  it  is  harmless;  but 
let  it  cease,  and  there  might  be  either  an  alliance  with 
France,  or  such  a  threat  of  it  as  would  enable  them 
constantly  to  perplex  and  concuss  the  British  portion 
of  the  population.  This  certainly  would  be  a  great 
misfortune  in  every  point  of  view,  both  for  the 
material  interests  of  the  country  and  for  the  progress 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  This  last  is,  here  as  in 
Europe,  bound  up  with  the  predominance  of  British 
over  French  ideas.  The  other  danger  to  the  inde- 
pendence of  Canada  lies  in  the  proximity  of  the 
United  States,  with  the  proved  disposition  of  its  demo- 
cracy to  extend  the  limits  of  its  dominion.  Whatever 
may  be  the  result  of  the  present  war,  the  States  would 
be  much  too  powerful  for  Canada  to  resist  alone,  and, 
whether  we  have  a  restored  or  a  curtailed  Union,  the 
expressed  mind  of  the  people  of  the  North  has  been 
for  the  incorporation  of  Canada.  One  grand  North 
American  empire  seems  a  favourite  idea  with  a 
portion  of  the  American  statesmen,  and  floats  as  a 
darling  dream  before  the  mind  of  the  mass  of  the 
people.  It  is  the  direct  result  of  the  Monroe  doc- 
trine, the  heart  of  which  is  the  sovereignty  of  the 
United  States  on  this  continent.  That  this  dream,  if 
carried  out,  would  be  fraught  with  great  evil  to  free- 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  209 

dom  and  to  the  best  interests  of  man  in  this  part 
of  the  world,  I  sincerely  believe.  Unbroken  dominion, 
either  in  the  Old  World  or  the  New,  as  long  as  man 
remains  the  being  he  is,  must  be  disastrous  in  its 
issue,  whether  it  be  lodged  in  a  single  despot  or  in  a 
democracy.  When  the  ancient  Eoman  republic  em- 
braced the  known  world,  it  began  rapidly  to  decline  ; 
and  the  balance  of  states  in  modern  Europe,  with  all 
the  dangers  of  war  which  it  brings,  yet  maintains  a 
healthy  emulation  in  the  national  spirit  of  each, 
and  affords  a  refuge  in  one,  when  individual 
liberty  is  assailed  in  another.  If  the  United  States 
could  establish  their  dominion  over  the  entire 
North  American  continent,  it  would  ere  lono-  be 
to  the  sore  detriment  of  personal  freedom  among 
themselves.  Even  as  it  is,  the  tendency  of  the 
majority  is  to  curtail  the  rights  and  free  speech  of  a 
minority  that  differs  strongly  from  them,  and  there 
v/ould  1je  less  limit  to  this  than  there  now  is,  if  Canada 
were  incorporated  with  the  States.  It  is  not  long 
since  it  was  the  only  place  on  the  Northern  continent 
where  the  hunted  slave  felt  himself  safe,  and  at  pre- 
sent it  affords  a  shelter  both  to  the  rcfuo-ees  of  the 
South  and  to  the  fugitives  from  the  Northern  military 
conscription.  It  may  be  natural  enough  for  a  dominant 
majority  to  fret  at  this  check  to  the  full  rigour  of  its 
measures,  but  it  is  for  it  to  consider  that  the  time  may 
not  be  long  wlien  a  change  of  iiunibcr.s  may  make  it 

as  thankful  to  have  a  neutral  frontier  near  it.     These 

0 


2 1 o  CAA^A DIAN  LEi  TERS. 

considerations  receive  greater  force  when  we  reflect 
that,  as  dominion  extends,  there  must  be  a  correspond- 
ing growth  in  centralizing  power  to  give  it  cohesion. 
We  can  see  the  consequences  of  a  want  of  this  in  the 
present  crisis,  and  if  in  any  way  it  were  surmounted, 
and  a  still  wider  empire  aimed  at,  centralization,  as  it 
has  not  yet  been  witnessed  in  the  New  World,  would 
be  the  natural  consequence.  As  we  have  a  regard, 
then,  to  the  best  interests  of  the  United  States  them- 
selves, and  to  the  growth  of  true  freedom  and  civiliza- 
tion in  North  America,  we  cannot  desire  that  Canada 
should  be  added  to  their  already  vast  territory.  For 
Canada  itself  this  is,  of  course,  still  less  desirable.  It 
would  be  burdened  with  the  share  of  a  huge  debt 
which  it  did  not  help  to  contract,  and  would  be  cut  off 
indefinitely  from  the  hope  of  adopting  those  principles 
of  free  trade  which  would  peculiarly  promote  its 
prosperity,  and  which  are  growing  in  the  estimation  of 
its  most  intelligent  citizens.  It  would  be  dragged  into 
the  turmoil  of  conflicts  from  which  it  instinctively 
shrinks  back,  and  be  bound  up  in  political  associations 
with  which  it  has  no  sympathy.  Canada  has  already 
its  own  national  recollections,  and  is  besiinninfr  to 
manifest  its  own  distinct  national  life,  a  life  which 
many  more  than  Canadians  believe  to  be  both  poli- 
tically and  socially  more  healthy  than  that  of  the 
States,  as  it  is  certainly  more  closely  allied  to  the  tone 
of  thinking  that  prevails  in  the  mother-country.  It 
is  for  Wvi  profit  and  happiness  of  Canada  that  this  life 


CANADIAN  LE  TTERS.  2 1 1 

should  be  allowed  to  develop  itself  freely  and  fully. 
"We  may  then  expect  from  it  its  own  distinct  and 
not  unworthy  contribution  to  the  varied  forms  of 
modern  civilization.  That  the  preservation  of  a  sepa- 
rate national  existence  is  the  wish  of  the  Canadian 
people  themselves  cannot  at  all  be  doubted.  They 
have  exerted  themselves  at  various  periods  of  their 
history  to  repel  invasions  from  the  States.  In  1837, 
when  they  had  just  causes  for  dissatisfaction,  it  was  a 
very  small  minority  that  favoured  the  idea  of  annexa- 
tion to  the  American  Union  ;  and  the  mass  of  the 
people,  while  desiring  reform,  remained  firm  in  tlieir 
allegiance  to  the  British  Crown.  The  causes  of  dis- 
content and  the  results  have  long  since  disappeared, 
and  the  attachment  to  connection  with  the  mother- 
country  is  not  only  sincere,  but  deep,  and  in  many 
cases  enthusiastic.  No  one  can  help  coming  to  this 
conclusion  who  consults  the  utterances  of  its  public 
men,  the  language  of  its  press,  or  tlie  sentiments  of  the 
people  as  heard  in  common  intercourse.  The  liberal 
contribution  made  in  all  parts  of  Canada  to  the  distress 
in  Lancashire,  and  the  spirit  that  accompanied  it,  show 
how  the  heart  of  all  classes  beats  to  the  interests  of 
the  common  empire.  A  great  misconception  existed 
at  home,  a  year  ago,  when  the  Canadian  Assembly 
threw  out  the  IMilitia  Bill  of  the  late  Ministry.  The 
case  is  now,  however,  better  understood,  for  that  vote 
did  not  turn  upon  the  question  of  national  defence, 
but  on  the  manner  in  which  the  late  Ministry  sought 


2 1 2  CANADIAN  LETTERS. 

to  carry  it  out — a  manner  reckoned  by  the  majority 
of  the  country  unwarrantably  extravagant.  The 
Canadians  are  willing  to  the  utmost  to  assist  in  their 
own  defence,  and  their  desire  to  do  so  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  enrolled  and  active  volunteers  are  in  a 
considerably  greater  proportion  to  the  population  than 
in  Great  Britain.  There  is  a  school  of  politicians  that 
has  arisen  lately  in  England,  represented  by  Mr. 
Goldwin  Smith,^  who  hold  it  to  be  for  the  advantage 
of  Britain  herself  to  withdraw  from  all  connection  with 
Canada,  and  leave  it  to  settle  its  own  future  arrajige- 
inents,  internal  and  external,  without  the  shadow  of 
imperial  authority  or  aid.  A  good  deal  may  be  said 
in  favour  of  this,  from  the  British  point  of  view,  and 
perhaps  it  is  the  reaction  from  the  policy  of  a  bygone 
age  that  placed  undue  importance  on  the  possession  of 
colonies,  and  strained  the  bond  of  connection  until  it 
broke.  We  should  be  sorry,  however,  to  see  the  ques- 
tion placed  on  the  ground  merely  of  the  material 
interests  of  the  mother-country.  There  are  other  and 
wider  obligations  than  those  that  can  be  measured  by 
revenue  and  commercial  profits.  Great  Britain  has 
sent  forth  her  children  to  this  colony  on  the  under- 
standing that  they  would  still  be  under  the  broad  regis 
of  imperial  protection  and  law,  and  while  they  are 
wishful  to  keep  their  part  of  the  engagement,  she  must 
be  true  to  hers.     Men  have  struggled  and  fought  and 

'■  ]\ir.  GoKlwiu  Sndtli  standa  almost  u'.oiic  5   very  few  iu  Canada 
sympathize  with  him. 


CANADIAN  LE  TTERS.  2 1 3 

made  sacrifices  of  every  kind  to  remain  British  subjects 
here,  property  has  been  invested  under  the  guarantee 
of  her  dominion,  and  such  claims  cannot  be  hghtly 
cast  aside.  A  great  country,  moreover,  owes  something 
not  only  to  itself,  but  to  the  world.  Tliere  are  surely 
some  designs  towards  humanity  at  large,  in  Providence 
having  given  to  Britain  tlie  position  she  has  among 
the  nations,  and  having  bestowed  upon  her  a  con- 
stitution that  has  so  long  stood  the  test  of  time,  and 
tliat  unites  so  many  elements  of  freedom  and  stability, 
of  regard  to  the  past,  and  elastic  power  of  expansion. 
If  we  owe  sympathy  and  aid  to  a  country  like  Italy, 
struggling  to  reach  our  footing,  do  we  not  owe  some- 
thing more  to  a  country  like  Canada,  sprung  to  a  great 
extent  from  ourselves,  and  desirous  to  consolidate  those 
principles  it  has  learned,  or  rather  inherited  from  us  ? 
The  true  greatness  and  glory  of  Britain  is  to  plant  and 
foster  such  communities,  and  this  heritage  will  remain 
to  her  when  her  own  commercial  predominance  may 
long  have  passed  away.  Such  views  may  be  termed 
ideal,  but  they  have  constantly  been  those  that  have 
filled  the  hearts  of  nations  when  they  have  been  in  the 
highest  flush  of  progress.  They  have  felt  that  there 
was  a  Providence  and  a  world-wide  aim  in  their  his- 
tory, and  have  sought  in  their  own  way,  though  that 
way  might  be  mistaken,  to  carry  it  out.  Let  us  aim 
at  it  in  a  generous  spirit,  and  for  the  highest  ends, — the 
progress  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  the  reign  of 
righteousness  and   peace  among  the  families  of  men. 


2 1 4  CANADIAN  LE  TTERS. 

We  shall  find  in  this  our  own  lasting  profit  as  a  nation, 
though  we  may  not  directly  see  it  or  seek  it.  Our  own 
freedom  and  peace  shall  be  more  established  by  grow- 
ing liberty  and  friendly  alliances  around,  and  our  com- 
merce shall  find  opening  fields  all  over  the  world,  not 
by  the  advantages  it  claims,  but  by  those  which  it 
offers.  It  is  with  nations  as  with  individuals ;  they 
prosper  best  eventually  when  they  act  on  the  largest 
and  most  generous  rule.  Let  a  nation  lose  sight  of 
what  is  called  the  ideal,  and  fix  its  eye  only  on  its  own 
material  interests,  and  we  may  then  fairly  conclude 
tliat  it  has  lost  the  chief  spring  of  progress,  and  is 
verging  to  its  decline.  It  is  the  often  maligned  ideal 
in  the  heart  of  either  a  man  or  a  people  that  preserves 
from  utter  corruption,  and  that  makes  material  progress 
lasting  and  beneficial.  Notwithstanding  the  views  of 
the  utilitarian  school,  however,  we  believe  that  the 
mass  of  the  British  people  w^ll  maintain  the  connection 
with  the  colonies,  so  long  as  the  colonies  wish  to 
remain  connected  with  the  mother-country,  and  that 
the  utmost  efforts  of  imperial  power  would  be  put 
forth  for  their  protection,  as  much  as  for  that  of  the 
centre  of  the  Empire  itself.  This,  of  course,  involves 
reciprocal  duties,  and  a  willingness  on  the  part  of  the 
colonies  to  do  their  utmost  in  self-defence,  in  which  we 
believe  they  will  not  be  found  wanting.  It  would 
require  too  much  space  to  speculate  here  on  the 
possible  future  of  Canada.  It  is  the  question  of  race 
that  is  at  present  the  most  perplexing  element.     The 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  2 1 5 

English-speaking  population  of  the  U^jpor  rrovince 
demands  that  it  be  no  longer  confined  to  the  same 
number  of  members  in  the  legislature  as  the  Lower 
Province,  and  complains  that  all  its  efforts  at  progress 
are  thwarted  by  the  jealousy  of  the  French  Canadians. 
The  French  Canadians  contend  for  the  equality  of  repre- 
sentation from  the  two  Provinces  as  settled  l)y  the 
terms  of  Union,  and  watch  every  movement  that  might 
increase  the  preponderance  of  the  Upper  Province. 
This  preponderance,  however,  is  constantly  growing, 
from  the  fact  that  the  Upper  Province  is  superior  in 
soil  and  climate,  and  draws  to  itself  the  stream  of 
emigration.  Its  own  limits  are  now  well-nigh  occupied, 
bat  beyond  it  to  the  north-west  lies  a  vast  region  with 
almost  boundless  resources,  that  might  easily  be  made 
available  for  settlers,  and  that  would  naturally  carry 
on  its  communication  with  Europe  through  the  great 
highway  of  the  lakes  and  the  St.  Lawrence.  This 
region  lies  beyond  Lake  Superior  in  the  great  valleys 
of  the  Eed  Piver  and  tlie  Saskatchewan,  reaching 
onward  towards  British  Columbia.  Though  lying  in  a 
hio-lier  latitude  than  Canada,  it  is  said  to  be  milder  in 
its  climate,  possessed  of  a  fertile  soil,  of  rich  minerals, 
including  coal,  iron,  gold,  and  silver,  and  penetrated 
by  rivers  that  would  form  a  water-way  for  its  inhabi- 
tants toward  either  the  Atlantic  or  the  I'acific.  A 
recent  survey  affirms  that  there  is  room  here  for 
twelve  States,  each  as  large  as  Ohio,  and  for  a  popula- 
tion of  decades  of  millions.      Along  this  line,  too,  lies 


2 1 6  CANADIAN  LE TTERS. 

the   best  route  for  a  great  railway  across  the  Xorth 
American  continent,  as  the  Eocky  Mountains  can  be 
crossed  here  more  easily  than  at  any  other  part  of  the 
chain.     The  Americans  have  their  eye  already  on  this 
territory,  with  the  hope  of  turning  its  produce  down 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  it  would  be  much  to 
be    regretted   if    they   were   suffered   to   forestall  the 
Canadians,    to    whom    the    soil    and    the    commerce 
naturally  belong.     The  heart  of  the  Upper  Province  is 
set  upon  opening  up  this  vast   and  rich  North-west 
Territory,  and  probably  it  would  be  more  wise  to  con- 
centrate its  energies  upon  this  object,  than  to  divide  them 
by  a  struggle  at  the  same  time  for  increased  representa- 
tion.    The  growth  of  population  that  must  follow  will 
bring  the  reform  in  representation  by  its  own  weight, 
and  it  will  then  be  so  clearly  a  matter  of  justice  and 
necessity,  that  it  will  not  leave  in  the  minds  of  the 
French    population    the     grudge    of     wounded    pride. 
There   may  follow  then  the  union  of   all  the  British 
Provinces  of  IsTorth  America  into  one  great  confedera- 
tion,  which  may  either  retain  the  bond  of  connection 
with    the    parent    country,  or   gracefully    drop   it   by 
mutual  consent,  to  continue  as  firmly  attached  by  the 
ties   of   a  common   history  and   kindred   institutions. 
That  the    valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence   is  destined   to 
become  the   home  of    a   great   nation   seems    already 
indicated  by  nature  and  Providence,  and  the  cradles 
of  nations  yet  unnamed  can  be  seen  opening  beyond  it. 
To  watch  over  the  formation  of  these,  and  protect  and 


CANADIAN  LETTERS.  2 1 7 

foster  their  growth,  is  one  of  the  greatest  works  that 
can  be  assigned  to  any  people,  and  to  be  successful  in 
it  must  be  one  of  the  highest  glories.  It  is  a  work 
assigned  to  Britain.  Let  us  hope  that  she  may  do  it 
so  unselfishly  and  so  wisely  as  to  win  the  lasting  grati- 
tude of  these  rising  commonwealths,  and  win  for 
lierself  the  title  of  '  Mother  of  Free  and  Christian 
Nations.' 

Note. — The  union  desiderated  in  the  close  of  the 
foregoing  letter  has  since  been  accomplished  by  '  The 
British  North  American  Act,  1867,'  which  provided 
for  the  confederation  of  the  whole  of  British  North 
America,  under  the  name  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada. 
The  provinces  of  Ontario,  Quebec,  Nova  Scotia,  and 
New  Brunswick  were  united  on  July  1 ,  1867;  Mani- 
toba followed  in  1870,  British  Columbia  in  1871,  and 
Prince  Edward  Island  in  1872.  The  Canadian  Pacific 
Eailway,  taking  the  route  Dr.  Ker  refers  to,  has  now 
been  completed  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific 
entirely  through  British  territory.  In  the  projection 
and  execution  of  this  vast  undertaking  (extending  with 
its  connections  to  fully  5000  miles)  Scotsmen  have 
taken  a  very  prominent  part, — especially  Sir  George 
Stephen,  Bart.,  the  president  of  the  company,  and  Sir 
Donald  Smith,  one  of  the  leading  directors. 


BEMIXISCEXCES  OF  THE  BEV.   THOMAS 
GUTHRIE,  B.I)} 

It  is  no  easy  thing  to  put  on  paper  the  incidents,  and 
still  less  the  impressions,  that  come  back  to  me  when 
I  think  of  Dr.  Guthrie.  Any  one  who  has  heard 
him  speak  on  a  great  public  question,  and  thereafter 
perused  the  report  of  his  speech,  the  most  full  and 
faithful,  will  understand  my  difficulty.  The  play  of 
the  features,  the  tones  of  the  voice,  so  sudden  in  their 
changes,  and  yet  felt  to  be  so  sincere,  because  so 
sympathetic  with  the  subject,  the  jmuses  and  the 
speaking  look  that  filled  them,  the  whole  life  that 
broke  through  the  siieech  and  made  vou  forijet  the 
words,  and  think  only  of  the  man  and  the  subject, 
these  were  lost  beyond  recovery.  The  endeavour  to 
put  them  in  type  was  like  trying  to  photograph  the 
Hit  and  colour  of  the  northern  light.  It  is  in  a  way 
harder  to  give  any  complete  view  of  what  he  was  in 
personal  intercourse ;  for  while  there  were  the  same 
cp^alities  that  appeared  in  his  public  speaking,  there 

1  AVritten  for  llie  Aulohiorjrapliy  and  Memoir  of  Thomas  Guthrie, 
D.D.,  1S74. 


THE  REV.   THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D.      219 

was  even  more  of  breadth  and  variety.  Indeed,  Dr. 
Guthrie's  speeches  owed  their  great  power  to  this,  that 
they  were  a  part  of  himself.  ]\Iost  men,  even  great 
speakers,  construct  compositions  into  wliich  they  put 
their  thoughts,  and  perhaps  their  feehng,  and  then 
send  them  forth  as  a  cannon  delivers  its  ball.  But 
he  went  with  it  himself  altogether,  somewhat  as  the 
ancient  battering-ram  did  its  work,  with  his  soul  and 
body,  voice  and  eye  propelled  on  his  aim.  This  will 
make  it  always  a  difficulty  for  those  who  liave  not 
heard  him  to  comprehend  the  power  of  his  speaking 
to  move  an  audience  with  quick  changes  from  indigna- 
tion to  pity,  and  to  make  April  weather  of  tears  and 
sunshine  play  over  the  sea  of  upturned  faces. 

I  came  in  contact  with  Dr.  Guthrie  during  the  last 
years  of  his  life  very  frequently  ;  more,  indeed,  than 
when  he  was  in  the  vigour  of  his  life  and  action,  and 
more  in  private  than  in  public.  He  was  as  erect  as 
ever  ;  he  never  lost  the  pine-like  uprightness,  with  its 
lithe  bend  that  always  came  back  to  the  perpendicular, 
and  though  the  black  hair  had  changed  to  lyart  grey, 
the  eye  that  looked  from  beneath  it  was  as  keen  and 
soft,  either  for  honest  wrath  or  open  humour,  as  ever. 
The  disease  that  took  him  away  had  begun  to  lay  its 
arrest  upon  him,  and  yet  very  gently — stopping  him 
at  the  foot  of  a  hill,  but  allowing  him  a  good  deal  of 
'tether,'  as  he  would  call  it,  on  the  level.  In  liis 
spirits  it  did  not  seem  to  affect  him  at  all,  only  that 
it  disposed  him  more  to  reminiscence  and  description 


220  REMINISCENCES  OF 

of  where  he  had  been  and  what  he  had  seen,  which, 
perhaps,  made  him  even  more  attractive  as  a  com- 
panion than  he  could  have  been  when  the  natural  free 
beat  of  his  heart  answered  prompt  and  strong  to  his 
resolute  will ;  and  it  was  observed  by  his  friends  that 
the  advance  of  years  gave  growing  comeliness  and 
dignity  to  face  and  form,  and  made  him  more  a  sub- 
ject of  curious  question  to  the  few  in  Scotland  who 
had  not  before  seen  him,  and  of  pleasant  recognition 
to  the  crowds  who  often  had.  In  its  way  the  inner 
man  kept  pace  with  the  outer,  so  that  I  think  those 
wdio  knew  him  last  in  private  knew  him  also  best. 

Of  the  times  I  have  seen  him,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  there  are  two  that  specially  recur  to  me : 
the  one  at  Mossfennan,  in  Peeblesshire,  in  mid-winter, 
where  a  happy  circle  met  for  a  week  in  the  hospitable 
house  '  below  the  Logan  Lea,'  at  whose  '  yett '  many 
a  visitor  has  '  lichtit  doon,'  as  did  the  king,  of  whom 
the  old  ballad  sings.  The  Tweed  was  grumbling  down 
to  Drummelzier  under  shackles  of  ice,  and  the  great 
dome-like  hills  were  covered  from  cope  to  rim  with 
the  purest  new-fallen  snow.  It  was  a  sight  of  new 
delight  every  morning  to  look  upon  them.  I  recollect 
the  comparisons  made  with  the  cupola  of  St.  Peter's, 
where  we  had  met  not  long  before ;  and  the  satisfaction 
he  took  in  contrasting  the  men  and  women  of  Tweed- 
dale,  intelligent,  independent,  and  God-fearing,  with  the 
subjects  of  Pio  Nono,  who  was  then  in  power,  as  we  had 
seen  them,  begging  with  his  badge  around  the  Vatican. 


THE  REV.   THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D.      221 

He  was  vigorous  for  work,  and  preached  with  all 
his  old  fire  in  the  clmrch  of  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  "Welsh, 
whose  guests  we  were.  At  Mossfennan  the  time 
passed  like  a  summer's  day.  When  not  occupied 
with  reading  or  correspondence,  Dr.  Guthrie  was  the 
centre  and  soul  of  the  conversation.  He  seemed  to 
he  able  to  watch  its  course  even  while  ensatied  with 
his  work,  turned  aside  to  confirm  or  correct  some 
observation,  to  give  some  anecdote  or  recollection,  and 
resumed  his  train  as  if  absorbed  in  it.  I  remember 
specially  the  long  evenings  when  we  gathered  round 
the  blazing  fire^-the  wood  log  flanked  with  coal,  and, 
as  in  Cowper's  picture  of  comfort,  '  the  hissing  urn  ' 
and  '  wheeled-round  sofa.'  He  kept  himself  free  and 
disengaged  for  these  seasons,  and,  to  the  hour  when  he 
retired,  threw  into  the  conversation  an  unflagging  life 
that  was  wonderful.  The  stores  of  his  reading,  but 
particularly  of  his  personal  observation  and  experience, 
were  poured  out  in  exhaustless  flow,  with  shrewd 
remarks  on  human  nature,  vivid  pictures  of  landscapes, 
or  comments  on  Bible  scenes  and  passages.  Anec- 
dotes, generally  from  his  own  knowledge,  formed  a 
prominent  part,  and  were  accompanied  by  a  rapid  and 
vivid  sketch  of  the  actors,  so  that  the  narrative  was 
a  set  of  ]:)ortraits.  It  would  be  a  mistake,  however, 
to  think  that  he  engrossed  the  conversation  on  these 
occasions.  Whether  it  came  from  the  instinctive 
nature  that  was  in  him,  or  from  some  set  purpose, 
he  made  it  his  object  to  draw  out  contributions  from 


222  REMINISCENCES  OF 

all  in  the  circle.  The  interest  he  showed  in  whatever 
any  one  had  to  tell  was  unaffectedly  genuine,  and  one 
could  see  how  he  accumulated  the  stores  of  illustration 
and  anecdote  that  he  poured  forth,  gathering  them, 
however,  not  to  tell  them  again,  but  for  the  love  of 
them.  Often,  when  an  anecdote  struck  him  as  good, 
he  would  ask  the  owner  of  it  to  repeat  it  for  the  sake 
of  some  new-comer,  and  he  enjoyed  it  as  much  in  the 
rehearsal  as  at  first.  I  have  always  remarked  that 
this  inclination  to  draw  out  others  to  advantage,  and 
to  encore  their  contributions,  is  a  sure  token  of  a 
kindly  and  unselfish  nature. 

Another  thing  that  struck  me  about  him  was  his 
tendency  in  the  midst  of  a  theme  that  was  exciting 
his  feeling  too  strongly — some  indignant  outbreak 
against  injustice  or  meanness — to  give  it  a  ludicrous 
touch  that  dissolved  it  in  humour.  One  felt  it  to  be 
not  levity  but  depth,  the  recoil  from  what  is  too 
painful  to  think  of,  when  thinking  can  serve  no  good. 
It  seems  to  be  a  principle  that  humour  is  given  us  as 
a  sort  of  lujfcr  to  make  the  hard  collisions  of  life 
more  endurable,  and  that  those  need  it  most  who 
have  the  heaviest  freight  of  feelinfr.  Some  "reat 
earnest  natures  want  it,  but  the  tear  and  wear  tells 
more  heavily  on  them.  One  thing,  however,  was  not 
discernible  in  his  humour :  he  had  no  power  of 
mimicry.  His  narratives  were  of  the  epic  kind,  given 
with  his  own  face  and  voice,  without  any  perceptible 
attempt    at    dramatic    impersonation.       I   suspect   he 


THE  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D.      223 

had  naturally  a  deficiency  in  this  direction  of  imitation, 
but  probably  also  he  had  set  himself  against  the 
cultivation  of  it.  He  had  an  instinctive  sense  of  the 
m  quid  nimis  in  every  way,  and  though  he  did  not  at 
all  say  of  laughter,  'It  is  mad,'  he  seemed  to  be 
putting  the  question  to  mirth,  '  What  doeth  it  ? ' 
One  felt  that  there  was  a  limit  and  a  solid  base  to  all 
the  exuberance  of  his  humour,  not  laid  down  in  any 
dogmatical  or  formal  way,  but  maintained  naturally 
by  the  rest  of  his  character,  always  sincere,  earnest, 
and  Christian. 

There  is  a  story  told  of  William  Guthrie,  author 
of  the  Christian's  Great  Interest,  that  on  one  occasion 
he  had  been  entertaining  a  company  with  mirth- 
provoking  anecdotes,  and,  being  called  on  afterwards 
to  pray,  he  poured  out  liis  heart  with  such  deep-felt 
fervour  to  God  that  all  were  melted.  When  they 
rose  from  their  knees,  Durham  of  Glasgow,  a  '  urave, 
solid  man,'  as  he  is  described,  took  liim  by  the  hand 
and  said,  '  Willie,  you  are  a  happy  man  ;  if  I  had 
laughed  as  much  as  you  did  a  while  ago,  I  could 
not  have  prayed  for  four-and-twenty  hours.'  The 
characteristics  of  the  old  Covenanter  of  Fenwick 
reappeared  in  his  namesake.  There  may  have  been 
Durhams  too  in  his  company,  though  I  never  heard 
of  them.  Presbyterian  Scotland  has  not  so  many 
men  colourless  in  their  gravity  as  some  think ;  yet  I 
am  sure  that  after  the  family  prayer  they  would  have 
risen  with  the  same  confession  in  their  heart. 


2  24  REMINISCENCES  OF 

But  I  recall  Dr.  Guthrie  in  connection  with  another 
locality,  where  he  found  each  summer  an  escape  from 
the  hurry  of  life,  and,  what  is  worse,  its  forced 
artificialities :  an  opportunity  for  being  entirely  one's 
self,  without  fear  of  having  the  coat  and  conduct 
criticized  simply  for  their  plainness, — to  withdraw 
for  the  holes  in  them  is  another  matter.  It  was  a 
simple  country  house  in  the  highlands  of  Angus, 
which  he  held  by  a  kind  of  feudal  tenure — akin  to 
that  expressed  in  the  motto  of  the  Clerks  of  Penicuik 
— '  Free  for  a  Blast.'  Once  a  year  at  least,  Lord 
Dalhousie  looked  for  a  sermon  from  him  in  the 
Glen, — a  condition  he  carefully  kept,  with  a  large 
excess  of  measure. 

During  our  stay  at  Mossfennan,  it  was  arranged 
that  we  should  pay  him  a  visit  at  Lochlee  in  the 
coming  summer,  and  accordingly  in  July  1871,  when 
the  days  were  long  enough  to  let  the  sun  look  down 
into  the  deepest  corrics  of  the  Grampians,  we  set 
ourselves  to  carry  it  out.  I  was  one  of  a  party  with 
his  sou-in-law  Mr.  Welsh,  and  his  daughter  Mrs. 
Welsh,  and  it  was  from  them  I  came  to  learn  some 
particulars  of  the  way  in  wliich  he  both  rested  and 
worked,  particulars  on  which  he  himself  would  not 
have  entered.  He  was  waiting  for  us  with  a  hearty 
welcome  at  the  Brechin  Eailway  Station,  having  come 
down  the  twenty-four  miles  to  meet  us,  and  take  us 
up  Glenesk  in  his  waggonette. 

Having  remained  all  night  in  the  house  of  hi^3  son 


THE  REV.   THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D.      225 

James,  a  banker  in  Brechin,  we  drove  up  to  Lochlee 
on  the  following  day.  About  seven  miles  out  of 
.Brechin,  we  struck  the  river  North  Esk,  soon  after 
passing  Edzell,  whose  castle,  the  ancient  home  of  the 
Lords  Lindsay,  is  imposing  even  in  ruins.  ]\Iy  first 
view  of  the  river  from  Gannochy  Bridge  I  can  never 
forget.  Dr.  Guthrie  caused  the  conveyance  to  halt  as 
we  reached  the  centre  of  the  noble  arch  which  spans 
the  foaming  stream  seventy  feet  below,  and  as  I  gazed 
first  up  the  stream  and  then  down,  I  felt  that  his 
enthusiasm  was  amply  justified.  The  river  chafes  in 
its  narrowed  channel,  with  here  a  rush  and  there  a 
leap,  twisting  and  wrestling  among  the  rocks — brown, 
yellow,  black,  and  white  by  turns.  Fine  old  woods  of 
oak  come  sloping  down  and  bend  wonderingly  over 
the  chasm  as  if  on  tiptoe,  while  beyond  them  rise  on 
either  hand  the  mountains  that  form  the  gateway  to 
Glenesk.  Some  ten  miles  higher  up,  we  passed  a  bare 
hillside  called  '  The  Eowan,'  thickly  covered  with  stone 
cairns,  more  frequent  towards  the  valley,  and  scattered 
singly  towards  the  height.  It  was  the  site  of  some 
great  and  seemingly  decisive  battle  in  those  times 
from  which  Iiistory  cannot  lift  the  veil.  Strange  to 
look  on  this  spot,  now  so  lone  and  silent,  and  think  of 
the  currents  of  heady  fight  that  must  have  swept 
across  it,  whether  of  Scot  with  Pict,  or  both  witli 
Dane !  Dr.  Guthrie's  imagination  kindled  at  the 
scene,  and  he  indicated  what  he  thoucrht  turnintr- 
points  in  the  struggle.      It  forms  a  vivid  illustration 


2  26  REMINISCENCES  OF 

in  one  of  his  works,  of  the  importance  of  maintaining 
the  key  of  the  position.  ^ 

For  miles  our  road  lay  along  the  birch -fringed 
banks  of  the  Esk,  whose  waters  are  formed,  as  I  found 
on  reaching  the  u]3per  part  of  the  glen,  by  the  con- 
fluence of  two  streams,  named  respectively  the  '  Mark ' 
and  the  '  Lee.'  The  latter  emerges  from  a  w41d  glen 
on  the  left,  after  flowing  through  the  lonely  Loch  Lee, 
on  whose  margin  stood  the  house  for  which  we  were 
bound.  This  sheet  of  water,  a  mile  in  length,  might 
not  have  struck  one  much  elsewhere,  but  here  it  gave 
softness  to  the  mountains,  and  drew  dignity  from  them. 
A  kind  of  bluish-grey  colour  seemed  to  float  over  it, 
and  proved  how  true  to  nature  was  the  eye  of  the  old 
Celt,  for  Loch  Luath  is  the  '  blue-grey  loch.'  Before 
it  opened  on  our  view,  we  passed  the  grey  peel  tower 
of  Invermark  Castle  ;  and,  close  by,  the  tasteful 
shooting  -  lodge  of  Lord  Dalhousie,  where  Queen 
A^ictoria  has  twice  passed  a  night.  At  the  upper  end 
of  the  lake,  a  white  solitary  dwelling  could  be 
discerned  under  the  ledge  of  the  mountain:  it  was 
Inchgrundle,  Dr.  Guthrie's  Highland  home — no  house 
beyond  for  many  long  miles  of  moor  and  hill.  As  we 
went  on,  our  road  unwound  itself  to  the  right,  cut  out 
of  the  mountain,  whose  toppling  rocks  rise  high  over- 
head, while  the  water  breaks  on  the  beach  many  feet 
below  ;  custom  and  care  brought  our  conveyance  at 
length  safely  to  the  door. 

1  Christ  and  the  Inheritance  nf  the  Saintx.  p.  315. 


THE  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D       227 

Any  one  who  has  been  in  the  habit  of  liearing  Dr. 
Guthrie,  or  who  has  read  his  books,  must  know  that 
there  were  two  voices  above  others  in  nature  he  liad 
listened  to  and  learned.  Wordsworth  calls  them  the 
voices  of  liberty, — the  one  of  the  sea,  the  other  of  the 
mountains.  At  Arbirlot  he  learned  the  first ;  at 
Lochlee  the  second.  Standing  before  the  door  of  that 
Highland  home  next  morning,  I  looked  around. 
Opposite,  across  the  little  loch,  was  a  great  mountain, 
on  the  ridge  of  which  the  red  deer  could  be  often  seen 
feeding  against  the  wind,  as  their  custom  is,  and  a 
whole  world  of  wild  l^eauty  was  spread  out  in  crag 
and  wood  and  waterfall.  Looking  up  tlie  glen,  the 
boldest  feature  is  Craig  Maskeldie,  rising  over  the 
valley  to  the  height  of  1200  feet,  an  almost  sheer 
precipice,  the  Erne  Crag  beyond,  while,  between  them, 
the  river  at  one  leap  descends  a  lofty  ledge  of  rock  in 
a  snow-white  cascade,  filling  both  eye  and  ear.  Half 
way  up  the  hill  behind  the  house  lies  a  tarn  or  moun- 
tain loch,  encircled  by  a  rocky  wall  tliat  shoots  high 
above  it  many  hundred  feet,  a  kind  of  Cyclops'  eye 
glaring  up  under  terrific  brows,  a  weird  and  fearsome 
spot  at  nightfall.  We  visited  these  and  other  spots, 
Dr.  Guthrie  accompanying  us  to  the  foot  of  the  liill, 
telling  us  what  to  look  out  for,  and  questioning  us 
minutely  on  our  return.  He  knew  every  feature  and 
mood,  and  inquired  after  their  looks  with  the  fondness 
of  an  old  friend.  The  little  objects  about  him  had 
been  caught,  set  in  the  memory  of  his  heart,  and  came 


2  28  REMINISCENCES  OF 

up  when  working  in  the  town  or  writing  from  abroad. 
A  splintered  rock,  with  an  adder  he  had  seen  lurking 
below  it,  became  the  emblem  of  man's  ruined  nature, 
with  the  poison  and  the  sting  beneath.  A  single  tree 
that  crowns  the  top  of  a  rock  amid  the  wreck  of  a 
fallen  mountain  shows  where  grace  can  rear  its 
trophies.  Tlie  reeds  by  the  loch- side  bending  to  the 
sudden  breeze  call  up  the  stir  of  the  heart  under  the 
mysterious  Spirit's  breath.  The  wild  ducks  starting 
from  the  rushy  covert,  and  in  a  moment  ^out  of  reach, 
are  the  riches  that  fly  away  on  wings.  The  walls  of 
a  deserted  shieling  at  the  foot  of  Craig  Maskeldie  give 
a  glimpse  of  patriarchal  life  gone  by,  and  take  up  the 
lament  for  the  exile.  The  little  ruined  church  seen 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  lake  is  a  symbol  of  the  deserted 
shrine  of  the  soul  on  which  '  Ichabod '  may  be  written. 
A  fitting  memorial  of  him,  and  one  of  the  finest  books 
of  illustration  for  that  part  of  Scotland,  would  be  a 
collection  of  these  word-pictures,  pointing  to  higher 
meanings,  and  assisted  to  the  eye  by  truthful  sketches. 
One  day  we  made  an  excursion  by  the  lake  to  the 
old  church  at  its  end, — for  Inchgrundle,  like  Venice, 
had  always  choice  of  a  road,  by  land  or  water.  On 
the  occasion  of  our  excursion  he  took  his  rod  with 
him,  being  very  anxious  that  I  should  catch  one  of 
the  '  char,'  for  which  the  lake  is  noted.  My  attempts 
were  unsuccessful,  but  he  soon  drew  one  out  himself, 
and  entered  on  the  history  and  edible  qualities  of  the 
fish.      The  monks  had,  as  he  believed,  introduced  it  as 


THE  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D.      229 

a  delicacy  for  the  sake  of  the  fast-days,  little  thinking, 
added  he,  that  they  were  providing  food  and  recreation 
for  a  Presbyterian  minister  ! 

We  landed  at  the  old  church,  so  close  to  the  lake's 
margin  that  the  dash  of  the  waves  must  have  sounded 
in  chorus  to  the  singing  of  the  Psalms,  and  explored 
under  his  guidance  the  small  roofless  ruin,  whose  site 
carries  us   back   to   the  times  of   the    Culdees.     For 
there,  according  to  tradition,  stood  the  Church  of  St. 
Drostan,   the   nephew  of  Columba   (a  common  name 
also  in  the  royal  Pictish  line),  and  the  same  name  is 
still    preserved    in    the    farm    of    '  Droustie '    in    the 
neighbourhood.      Close  by  the  ruined   church   is   the 
deserted  schoolhouse  (the  church  and   school   having 
been  transferred  farther  down  the  glen).      This  humble 
dwelling    was    the    home,    a    hundred    years    ago,   of 
Alexander  Eoss,  the  Allan  Eamsay  of  the  North,  who 
wrote    The  Rock  and   the    Wee  PicUe  Tovj,   and   was 
the   author  of  Hclenore,  or  The  Fortunate  Shepherdess. 
The  latter  work  is  very  much  an  unknown  one  now, 
even    to    Scotsmen ;     it    is    a     pity,    for    it    contains 
descriptions  of  scenery  and  life  which  betray  the  eye 
and  heart  of  a  true  poet,  and  traces  of  customs  and 
traditions  not  to  be  found  elsewhere.      His  house  must 
have   been  the  smallest   in   which   even  a  poet   ever 
lived,  the  largest  of  the  two  little  rooms  being  only 
ten  feet  square ;  and  yet,  looking  up  and  down   tlie 
valley,    nowhere   else    could    one    imagine     a     better 
application  of  the  ' parva  domus,  magna  quics.' 


230  REMINISCENCES  OF 

On  the  day  of  our  visit,  however,  there  was  a  stir 
about  it,  such  as  must  have  given  Alexander  Eoss 
some  of  his  pastoral  pictures.  The  work  of  sheep- 
shearing  was  going  on  busily  behind  the  old  church- 
yard. On  these  occasions  the  shepherds  from  all  the 
country  round  are  accustomed  to  help  one  another,  so 
that  we  had  representatives  from  far  and  near.  I 
was  struck  by  the  way  in  which  Dr.  Guthrie  passed 
from  the  memories  of  the  deserted  church  to  the 
humanities  of  the  present ;  yet  it  was  the  same  element 
in  both  which  interested  him.  He  had  not  much 
fancy  for  mere  stone  and  lime  antiquarianism ;  but  . 
he  touched  ground  when  he  came  to  the  human.  He 
was  on  terms  of  thorough  acquaintanceship  with  his 
neighbours.  He  seemed  to  know  every  face  we  saw 
and  the  names  of  all  the  absent,  and  the  shaking  of 
hands  reminded  me  of  the  welcome  given  by  the 
people  to  tlie  minister  at  a  Scottish  ordination.  There 
was  on  his  part  an  absence  of  anything  like  the 
patronizing  air,  and  on  theirs,  a  mixture  of  manly 
independence  and  respect.  One  was  introduced  to 
me  as  '  the  mathematician,'  and  another  as  '  the  poet.' 
He  had  discovered  their  tastes  and  qualities,  and  set 
himself  to  draw  them  out  with  a  playful  humour  that 
never  hurt  their  honest  feeling,  and  that  left  a  bright- 
ness on  their  faces  at  parting. 

He  was  engaged  at  the  time  of  my  visit  with  his 
Autobiography,  though  the  information  about  it  was 
given  me  in  confidence,  as  he  knew  not  how  it  might 


THE  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 


231 


turn  out.  Every  one  will  now  regret  that  he  did  not 
begin  it  sooner, — and  those  most,  who  have  heard 
his  narrative  of  the  men  and  times  tliat  have  gone  to 
carry  forward  the  Presbyterianism  of  Scotland  to  a 
new  period,  which  will  take  rank  with  its  famous 
epochs.  In  our  conversations,  the  affairs  of  tlio 
Church  often  came  upon  board;  and  the  heroic  peri(jd 
of  the  Free  Church,  its  Wallace  and  Bruce  epoch, 
was  dealt  with  in  fond  and  bright  recollection, 
contrasted  with  the  disunions  and  recriminations 
which  at  that  time  were  vexing  the  Union  Ques- 
tion. But  he  spoke  kindly  of  those  from  wliom 
he  differed  widely,  and  hopefully,  too,  of  a  solution 
sooner  than  many  expected.  '  I  cannot  help  liking 
him,  for  all  that  is  come  and  gone,'  he  said  of  one 
of  the  leading  anti-unionists :  '  he  is  a  fine  fellow  at 
bottom.' 

His  leisure  times  through  the  day  were  spent  in 
curious  studies  of  plants  and  animals,  with  quaint 
Christian  emblems  drawn  from  them,  and  regrets  that 
the  conventionalities  of  the  pulpit  would  not  always 
permit  of  their  use  there.  As  the  evening  deepened, 
so  did  his  discourse ;  and  one  could  see  by  what  a 
profound  well  of  religious  feeling  his  life  had  been 
freshened  in  his  work  for  his  fellow-men.  In  tlie 
household  prayer  his  heart  was  open,  and  the  fulness 
of  his  affection  for  the  members  of  his  family,  scattered 
now  over  the  world,  for  the  brotherhood  of  faith,  and 
for  all  men,  was   poured   out    in   his   own   strong  and 


232  REMINISCENCES  OF 

fervid  words.  ^  It  is  not  of  this,  however,  that  I  have 
to  speak  so  much  as  of  the  familiar  traits  about  him 
that  one  can  refer  to  with  less  delicacy,  but  that  are 
very  helpful  in  individualizing  him.  I  observed  that 
in  his  prayers  on  these  occasions  he  had  a  certain 
rhythm  in  his  voice,  and  that  the  foot  often  kept  an 
audible  accompaniment,  evidently  without  his  being 
conscious  of  it.  I  think  it  is  characteristic  of  his 
speeches  and  sermons  also  when  in  a  certain  mood. 
I  believe  he  never  wrote  a  line  of  poetry  in  his  life, 
and  yet  the  bees  of  Hybla  seem  to  have  been  humming 
in  the  air  without  finding  where  to  settle  down.  I 
do  not  know  that  we  have  any  reason  to  regret  it,  for 
the  poet-orator  does  his  work  no  less  than  the  poet 
proper.  When  we  had  psalms  or  hymns  sung  through 
the  day  we  had  the  accompaniment  of  a  liarmonium, 
but  the  instrument  was  silenced  at  family  praise.  I 
asked  the  reason,  and  found  that  it  was  an  offering  to 

'  'At  family  worship,'  writes  Mrs.  Mayo  ('Edward  Garrett,'  one 
of  his  collaborateurs  in  the  Sunday  Magazine),  '  the  household  was 
joined,  not  only  by  the  permanent  occupants  of  the  lonely  farm,  and 
by  any  gillie  who  might  be  in  the  vicinity,  but  also  by  the  tramps 
who  might  be  earning  a  few  days'  shelter  by  a  little  field  work.  For 
these  waifs  the  Doctor  had  ev^er  a  kindly  word  and  inquiry,  and  a 
special  clause  in  the  prayer.  It  was  touching  to  see  the  dull  faces 
brighten,  and  the  shuffling  forms  draw  up,  as,  on  their  second  appear- 
ance, they  found  that  their  names  and  any  special  circumstance  about 
them  was  duly  remembered.  ...  I  love  to  think  of  the  Lochlee 
evening  "  worship  " — the  chapter,  the  prayer,  the  psalm — with  just 
his  dearest  about  him,  and  those  few  weather-beaten  shepherd  folk, 
shut  in  by  the  awful  mountain  silence,  oidy  broken  once  and  again  bj'' 
the  bay  of  a  hound  or  the  shrill  pathos  of  some  Avandering  gillie's 
bagpipe.* 


THE  REV.   THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D.      233 

charity.     The  housemaid,  an  attached  member  of  the 
family,  belonged  to  that  staunch  and  worthy  section 
of  the  Christian  Church,  the  Original  Secession,  and 
she  had  a  strong  dislike  to  instrumental  music  in  the 
service  of  God.     He  could  not  bear  that  her  edifica- 
tion should  be  marred,  and,  though  his  face  was  turned 
forward  in  these  things,  he  had  a  kindly  feeling  for 
that  sturdy  Scottish  period  when  the  old  woman,  as 
he  said,  declared  that  '  she  would  have  naething  sung 
but  Dawvid's  Psalms,  ay,  and  Dawvid's  tunes  to  them  ! ' 
For  obvious  reasons,  the  references  in  his  memoir 
to  his  family  relationships  must  be  slight;  therefore 
a  visitor  may  touch  this  subject  as  relatives  cannot. 
He  was  blessed  of  God  as  few  are  by  the  absence  of 
severe  trial,  and  by  the  rich  gifts  of  household  affec- 
tion.     He   lost   only  one   child    (I    believe,  in   early 
infancy),    and     all     the    others,    six    sons    and     four 
daughters,    grew   up   to    man's    and    woman's    estate, 
without  ever  causing  his  heart  a  pang,  or  his  eye  a 
tear.      Though  some  were  separated  far  from  the  home 
hearth,  a  place  was  always  kept  for  them  there,  as 
fresh  as  when  they  left  it ;  their  letters  came  to  it  as 
a  centre  to  be  sent  round  the  circle,  and  their  father's 
letters — when  from  home — were  often  printed  to  be 
made  common  family   property.  -^     Next  to  the  love 

1  Some  of  these  were  bound  up  in  a  volume  with  this  inscription  : — 
'  To  my  two  sons,  Thomas  Guthrie,  near  Buenos  Ayres,  and  Alexander 
Guthrie,  in  San  Francisco,  these  letters  are  dedicated  with  the  prayers 
and  very  affectionate  regards  of  their  father,  Thomas  Guthrie.  ' '  The. 
Angel  tvhich  redeemed  me  from  all  evil  blens  the  huls  ■' "  ' 


234  REMINISCENCES  OF 

of  God,  his  spirit  was  sustained  in  his  last  days  by 
the  love  of  his  children.  While  the  united  firmness 
and  affection  with  which  he  dealt  with  them  had 
much  to  do  with  this,  it  was  not  the  whole.  Only 
those  who  looked  more  nearly  knew  how  much  both 
they  and  he  were  indebted  to  the  wife  who  still 
survives  him,  and  how  slie  did  her  part  in  her  sphere 
no  less  fitly  than  he  in  his.  Kelated  by  ancestry 
and  kinship  to  ministers  on  all  sides,  she  had  the 
experience  and  sympathies  of  her  place.  In  one 
thing  she  balanced  and  supplemented  his  nature — with 
clear  judgment,  deep  feeling,  and  a  native  sense  of 
becomingness  on  all  occasions,  she  had  a  quiet,  even 
temperament  that  calmed  his  impulsiveness,  and  gave 
him  that  soothing  which  to  an  imaginative  nature 
is  strength.  He  might  have  flown  as  high  without 
her,  but  he  could  not  have  kept  so  long  on  the  wing. 
Latterly — as  birds  flutter  homeward  at  nightfall — 
this  became  more  manifest,  and  though  he  could 
traverse  the  world  in  his  vigour  alone,  in  his  later 
years  he  could  only  journey  and  be  well  in  her 
company. 

Dr.  Guthrie  used  to  spend  his  Sabbath  intervals 
readiuGj  and  sittin!J  before  the  door  with  the  loch 
and  hill  in  front,  not  making  passages  for  sermons, 
but  drinking  in  the  spirit  of  things  about  him,  and 
reviving  his  own  nature.  He  never  himself  gave  a 
hint  of  any  of  the  illustrations  he  had  made  use  of, 
and  when   he  spoke   of  the  scenery  it  was  with  the 


THE  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D.      235 

feeling  and  words  of  the  moment,  not  as  seen  through 
the  eyes  of  his  own  parables.  He  had — more  than 
most  men — the  power  of  laying  down  his  burden  of 
prophecy,  and  enjoying  wliat  was  before  him ;  and 
this  made  him  no  doubt  all  the  stronger  when  he 
took  it  up  again.  It  is  the  old  story  of  the  giant, 
who  got  power  from  his  mother  earth,  or  the  deeper 
Christian  truth  of  the  child's  heart  within  the  man 
that  makes  him  more  manly  in  God's  kingdom.  In 
the  forenoon  of  the  day,  we  worshipped  with  the  Kev. 
A.  M'llwraith  and  his  congregation  in  the  little  Free 
Church  at  Tarfside  :  and,  in  tlic  evening,  he  insisted 
on  my  taking  the  sermon,  instead  of  himself,  in  the 
hall  of  Lord  Dalhousie's  Lodge.  Our  service  that 
night  was  a  kind  of  Alliance  meeting.  The  Eev. 
Walter  Low,  an  Established  Church  minister,  led  us 
in  our  singing,  the  Eev.  W.  Welsh,  a  Free  Church- 
man, in  our  prayers,  and  the  sermon  was  by  a  United 
Presbyterian.  As  we  stole  homeward  in  the  gloaming, 
under  the  shadows  of  the  hills,  iJr.  Cuthrie  spoke  of 
it  in  his  sanguine  way  as  an  earnest  of  peace  after 
wars  still  waging,  and  of  the  hope  we  might  liave  of 
progress,  when  we  had  met  so  cjuietly  in  Christian 
worship,  close  beside  the  keep  of  the  Tiger  Earl,  who 
was,  centuries  ago,  the  terror  of  the  north. 

The  more  I  saw  of  Dr.  Gutlirie,  my  feeling  deepened 
that  he  was  the  same  man  in  private  as  he  appeared 
in  public,  and  that  his  work  was  the  outcome  of  his 
life.      He   had   the   same   two  poles  to  his  nature — 


236  REMINISCENCES  OF 

indignation  and  pity ;  indignation  that  rose  against 
the  enemies  of  justice  and  freedom,  and  pity,  not  only 
for  all  human  kind,  but  for  the  broken  reflections  of 
it  in  dumb  suffering  life  as  well.  And  playing 
between  these  poles  was  a  lambent  humour  that 
helped  to  make  pity  more  soft  and  wrath  more  keen. 
Besides  the  one  Book,  there  were  two  he  was  always 
reading — nature,  and  human  nature ;  not  with  other 
men's  glasses,  neither  telescope  nor  microscope,  but 
with  his  own  natural  eyesight,  opened  by  a  genuine, 
loving  interest.  Of  the  two,  I  should  say  he  preferred 
human  nature.  He  loved  not  nature  less,  but  man 
the  more.  His  way  of  looking  at  a  landscape  was 
the  opposite  of  Claude  Lorraine's,  with  whom  scenery 
is  everything,  and  men  in  the  foreground  only  lay 
figures.  And  yet  his  love  of  nature  was  very  deep 
and  genuine,  as  any  man  could  see.  He  carried  it  in 
his  heart  to  the  city,  and  hung  up  its  pictures  in  his 
mind's  eye  to  keep  himself  and  his  hearers  natural 
and  fresh  amid  the  din  and  dust.  His  study  of  God's 
Word  was  of  a  similar  kind, — through  his  own  vision 
and  heart.  He  carried  the  man  and  the  Christian  to 
it,  more  than  the  historical  or  doctrinal  critic.  Deep 
down  in  his  nature  were  fixed  what  are  called  in 
Scotland  '  the  doctrines  of  grace  ; '  and  with  these,  as 
a  part  of  himself,  he  handled  the  Word  of  God.  I 
recollect  hearing  him  relate  a  critique  on  his  Gospel  in 
Ezehiel  in  some  Unitarian  journal.  '  Dr.  Guthrie,' 
the  writer  said,  '  seems  to  believe  that  Ezekiel  signed 


THE  REV.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D.      237 

the  Westminster  Confession  of  Taith.'  '  A  very  fair 
]iit  that  ! '  he  remarked,  laughing.  It  was  fair,  and 
yet  not  quite  fair ;  for  I  do  not  believe  that,  in  liis 
exposition  at  any  time,  the  Confession  of  Faith  was  a 
measuring  rule  in  his  mind ;  but  he  had  within  him 
a  conviction  of  a  renewed  humanity  which  he  carried 
to  the  Bible,  as  he  carried  a  natural  humanity  to  the 
hills  and  woods,  and  he  heard  them  speak  accordingly. 
He  was  by  no  means  ignorant  of  the  critical  historical 
school,  but  theirs  was  not  the  method  which  suited 
him.  His  mind  moved,  not  in  the  logical,  but  the 
analogical  plane,  and  swept  forward,  not  in  tlie  rigid 
iron  line  of  the  railway  excavation,  liut  with  the 
curves  of  a  river  tliat  follows  the  solicitation  of  the 
ground.  And  so,  too,  his  sermons  were  constructed. 
They  had  not  exhaustive  divisions  enclosing  subjects, 
as  hedges  do  fields,  but  outlines,  such  as  clouds  have, 
that  grow  up  by  electricity  and  air ;  or  such  as  the 
breadths  of  fern  and  heather  and  woodland  had  on 
the  hillside  opposite  his  door,  where  colour  melted 
into  colour,  with  here  a  tall  crag  pointing  skyward, 
and  there  an  indignant  torrent  leaping  headlong  to 
come  glittering  out  again  among  flowers  and  sun- 
shine. Some  tell  us  that  analogy  is  a  dangerous 
guide,  and  that  metaphors  prove  nothing ;  but  where 
they  rest  on  the  unity  between  God's  world  and 
man's  nature  they  are  arguments  as  well  as  illustra- 
tions. 

Every  man  of  warm,  sensitive  feeling  grows   into 


23S      THE  REV.   THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.D. 

his  surroundings  as  nature  puts  a  tree — say  a  silver- 
barked  birch  or  a  red-stemmed  mountain-fir — just  on 
the  bank  or  point  of  rock  where  the  painter's  pencil 
loves  to  find  it.  The  kernel  is  sown  there  by  some 
curious  law  of  adaptation,  and  it  draws  congenial 
nourishment  from  soil  and  sky  to  become  a  sort  of 
index  finger  to  the  landscape,  or  an  eye  through 
which  its  expression  looks  out  upon  us.  When  the 
visitor  to  that  sequestered  spot  stands  by  the  ruined 
church  of  St.  Drostan,  and  one  of  the  kindly  natives 
of  the  Glen  points  to  the  simple  house  that  looks 
down  on  the  soft  blue-grey  loch,  and  up  to  the  sweep 
of  the  great  dark  hills,  he  will  feel  there  is  a  fitness 
in  the  bond  which  the  place  must  always  have  with 
the  clear  -  eyed,  warm  -  hearted,  large  -  souled  Thomas 
Guthrie. 


THE  REV.    W.  B.  ROBERTSON,  D.D. 

LucERXE,  July  3,  1SS6. 

My  dear  Dr.  Calderwood, — You  have  requested  me 
to  give  some  words  for  the  Magazine,  in  mcmoriam  of 
Dr.  William  B.  Robertson,  and,  though  feeling  unfit  in 
many  ways,  it  is  not  in  my  power  to  refuse.  The 
notice  of  his  death  must  have  been  received  by  many 
in  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  and  far  beyond  it, 
not  merely  with  regret,  but  with  the  sense  of  a  deep 
personal  bereavement.  In  speaking  of  him,  my  object 
is  not  to  sketch  his  life,  or  estimate  his  powers  and 
character.  This  will  be  done,  I  hope,  by  some  one  at 
full  length,  and  with  such  memorials  of  him  as  will 
extend  to  a  wider  circle  the  admiration  and  affection 
he  excited  in  life  among  those  who  came  into  contact 
with  him.  ]\Iy  wish  is  simply  to  relieve  my  own 
heart  by  expressing  imperfectly  what  is  shared  by 
many  besides,  but  which  has  fallen  on  me  perhaps 
more  painfully,  because  the  news  reached  me  un- 
expectedly and  at  a  distance.  Let  this  be  an  excuse 
for  whatever  is  broken  and  incomplete  in  anything  I 
have  to  say.     The  first  feeling  among  those  who  knew 


240       THE  REV.    IV.  B.  ROBERTSON,  D.D. 

him  will  be,  most  of  all,  the  sorrow  that  we  are  to  see 
his  face  no  more.  There  was  a  wonderful  fascination 
about  him  in  private  fellowship  which  made  even  a 
casual  evening  with  him  a  thing  to  be  remembered  and 
cherished.  And  when  the  circle  was  one  of  friends,  of 
old  friends,  there  was  an  opening  of  the  heart  with  a 
joyful  and  generous  warmth,  which  told  how  fresh  and 
strong  the  love  of  his  youth  was  still  in  him.  To  the 
last  he  never  began  to  grow  old.  His  mind  had  the 
rich,  rare  sparkle  which  made  common  things  un- 
common, and  set  the  old  in  new  and  varied  lights — a 
sparkle  that  had  much  more  than  wit  and  fancy  in  it, 
though  these  were  present  in  profusion,  but  that  had 
the  higher  vein  of  imagination  which  sees  into  inner 
likenesses  and  far-off'  but  true  analogies.  With  the 
natural  recoil  wliich  belongs  to  such  minds,  and  which 
was  very  marked  in  him,  there  would  come  the  transi- 
tion from  the  clear,  dry  intelligence  to  the  moist, 
many-coloured  play  of  humour,  which  reminded  one, 
in  its  quick  touclies  and  turns,  of  the  skimming  flight 
and  sudden  dip  of  the  swallow  from  air  to  water.  His 
pictures  of  incidents,  not  so  much  read  as  witnessed  by 
him ;  his  quaint  anecdotes,  not  of  the  kind  that  come 
down  like  heirlooms,  but  the  product  of  his  own 
experiences ;  the  unflagging  flow  of  spirit  with  which 
he  passed  from  theme  to  theme ;  and  all  with  that 
expressive  eye  and  those  finely  sympathetic  features, 
with  that  clear,  rich  voice  which  varied  with  the  sub- 
ject from  the  low  whisper  to  the  deep,  full  bass,  made 


THE  REV.    W.  B.  ROBERTSON,  D.D.       241 

his  friends  apply  to  him  the  title  the  Germans  fondly 
gave  to  Jean  Paul  Eichter, — dcr  Einzige, — '  the  man 
apart  and  by  himself.'  With  Jean  Paul,  indeed,  he 
had  many  things  in  common,  not  merely  in  sympathy 
but  in  vision  ;  and  when  we  have  heard  him  rehearsing 
the  wonderful  dream  of  the  seer,  Dass  kein  Gott  set,  '  a 
universe  without  a  God,'  with  touches  here  and  there 
which  cast  light  into  its  depths,  we  felt  that  the  same 
ethereal  substance  entered  into  the  mould  of  both.  In 
this,  too,  we  should  say  there  was  resemblance  ;  the 
humour  was  at  the  farthest  remove  from  bitterness, 
and  the  sportiveness  was  not  only  free  from  irreverence, 
but  led  by  an  easy  change  of  mood  to  what  was  best 
and  highest — the  dip  of  the  wing,  as  at  Bethesda,  had 
healing  and  life. 

We  have  the  feeling  that  in  what  we  say  we  may 
be  charged  with  exaggeration  and  the  partiality  of 
friendship  ;  and  this  is  an  additional  regret  wdiich  will 
be  shared  by  all  his  friends,  that,  believing  our  estimate 
of  him  to  be  just,  we  can  point  the  outside  world  to  so 
little  in  proof  of  it.  Dr.  Eobertson  has  left  almost 
nothing  behind  by  which  those  of  the  present  genera- 
tion, who  have  not  known  or  heard  him,  can  hold  him 
in  remembrance.  Some  exquisite  little  lyrics,  which 
have  appeared  in  periodicals,  or  passed  from  hand  to 
hand  among  his  friends,  and  have  been  by  them  caught 
and  treasured,  give  some  glimpses  of  his  gifts.  But 
they  are  only  glimpses  ;  they  are  too  few,  and  want  the 
soar  and  sweep,  the  ease  and  affluence,  the  march  ;uul 

Q 


242       THE  REV.    W.  B.  ROBERTSON,  D.D. 

energy,  which  belonged  to  the  prose  poems  of  the 
preacher  and  lecturer,  and  which  made  him  stand  out 
confessedly  a  man  of  genius.  Here  he  broke  away 
from  the  fetters  of  rhyme,  though  not  of  rhythm,  and 
rose  and  moved,  or  rested  in  mid-air,  and  let  his 
thoughts  fall  as  free  as  the  notes  of  any  lark,  and 
seemingly  as  unpremeditated.  Again  and  again  he 
was  pressed  by  his  friends  to  put  some  of  these 
utterances  into  permanent  shape,  l>ut  in  vain.  He 
escaped  the  pressure  by  some  alert  turn  that  put  him 
out  of  reach ;  or,  when  seriously  urged,  he  promised 
consideration  in  a  future  time  that  never  came.  His 
numerous  engagements  when  he  was  in  full  vigour,  and 
the  precarious  fluctuation  of  health  when  he  came  to 
have  leisure,  may  have  been  some  of  the  reasons.  But 
besides  this,  there  was  his  mental  j)eculiarity.  High 
as  his  powers  were,  and  as  he  could  not  help  feeling 
them  to  be,  he  had  a  corresponding  ideal,  and  he 
may  have  feared  to  come  short  of  it.  He  knew  the 
difference  between  winged  words  that  passed  from  the 
heart  to  the  heart  with  the  warmth  and  colour  of 
sympathetic  feeling  and  the  impression  of  the  cold 
leaden  types  which  so  often  change  '  the  glory  into 
grey.'  What  he  brought  forth  was  the  result  of 
earnest  thought  and  intense  feeling  in  private  ;  but  he 
was  one  of  those  who,  in  the  presence  of  his  fellow- 
men,  is  drawn  out  of,  and  above,  his  quiet  meditative 
self.  His  nature  was  strongly  social  and  human,  and 
thoughts    came  forth  in  speech  which  could  not   be 


THE  REV.   Ji:  B.  ROBERTSON,  D.D.       243 

found  in  any  of  his  note-books.  He  was  an  im- 
jprovisatorc  as  well  as  a  student,  and  the  difficulty  he 
would  feel  would  be  to  recall  and  reproduce  these 
breathing  thoughts  as  they  were  spoken.  He  had  a 
great  craving  for  sympathy,  but  little  care  for  fame, 
and  was  satisfied  with  the  approval  and  love  of  his 
friends.  Hence  the  failure  in  resolve  to  face  the 
labour  of  shaping  what  must  come  before  the  reading 
world.  In  this  respect  he  resembled  another  man  of 
genius, — Amiel  of  Geneva, — whose  Journal  of  an 
Inner  Life,  found  after  his  death,  has  consoled  his 
friends  for  what  he  disappointed  them  of  while  he  was 
with  them.  We  may  have  no  such  posthumous  gift 
from  Dr.  Eobertson,  but  we  are  persuaded  there  must 
be  enough  of  his  thoughts  still  surviving,  with  the 
wing  of  imagination  bearing  them  up,  and  the  glow  of 
feeling  beneath,  to  give  the  world  something  which  it 
'  would  not  willingly  let  die.' 

The  regret  for  the  hidden  treasure  which  seems 
meanwhile  to  be  buried  with  him,  or  (shall  we  say  ?)  too 
entirely  carried  away  to  that  world  where  nothing  good 
is  lost,  leads  us  to  think  of  his  past — of  the  promise  he 
gave  in  early  morning,  and  the  many  experiences  that 
made  him  what  his  friends  knew  him  to  be  in  his  ripe 
afternoon.  It  is  now  full  forty  years  since  we  first 
knew  him  in  the  Divinity  Hall.  We  recollect  him 
as  if  it  were  yesterday,  the  graceful  figure  and  'fine 
features,  through  which  poetic  light  shone  transparent, 
the  buoyant  step,  as  if  concealed  wings  were  ready  to 


2  44        THE  REV.    W.  B.  ROBERTSON,  D.D. 

lift  him  from  the  ground,  and  the  youthfuhiess  of  look 
and  motion  that  accompanied  him  far  through  life, 
while  the  Apollo-like  locks  shook,  not  in  any  affecta- 
tion, but  in  the  exuberance  of  spirit.  There  were 
fellow-students  who  have  done  honourable  work  since 
in  the  Church,  with  varied  gifts,  but  he  had  a  place  all 
his  own,  an  ethereality  of  imagination  and  originality 
of  thought,  which  made  his  discourse  waited  for  as  an 
event.  There  is  a  generous  freedom  from  envy  in 
these  matters  among  students,  an  intellectual  socialism 
which  makes  all  things  common.  I  remember  yet  two 
of  the  texts  on  which  he  preached,  that  rise  before  me 
as  if  illuminated  :  '  Pray  without  ceasing,'  in  which  he 
compared  the  spirit  of  prayer  in  its  ebb  and  flow  to 
the  breathing  in  the  living  frame  as  it  rises  and  falls, 
the  beat  of  the  heart-blood  as  it  comes  and  goes,  wax- 
ing and  waning,  but  when  it  stops  the  man  is  dead. 
Another  was  a  characteristic  discourse,  as  it  was  called, 
prescribed  by  Dr.  Mitchell  on  the  text,  '  This  is  that 
King  Ahaz.'  He  drew  the  picture  of  a  man  moving  in 
the  dusk  along  a  burial  path  till  a  grave  stops  his  foot- 
steps. He  stoops  to  examine  it,  and  gropes  out  the 
epitaph.  It  is  the  tomb  and  character  of  the  wicked 
king  of  Judah  ;  and  then  he  proceeded  to  sketch  his 
deeds  and  his  doom,  till  there  crept  over  us  a  feeling 
of  eerie  avjcsomeness. 

Visits  to  Germany  were  not  so  common  then  as  they 
have  since  become  among  theological  students.  He 
was  one  of  the  first,  if  not  indeed  the  very  first,  in  our 


THE  REV.    W.  B.  ROBERTSON,  D.D.       245 

Church  at  least,  who  took  that  course,  and  ^Yhile  he 
passed  through  what  is  considered  a  dangerous  ordeal 
unscathed,  or  rather  confirmed,  in  his  faith,  he  brought 
back  a  knowledge  of  the  language  and  literature,  added 
to  the  theology  and  philosophy,  which  he  kept  uj)  to 
the  last.  On  his  return  he  was  settled  in  Irvine,  and, 
though  repeatedly  called  from  it,  he  refused  to  break 
the  tie.  It  was  a  congenial  home,  among  an  intelligent 
and  devoted  people,  and  with  an  indulgence,  on  which 
he  did  not  trespass  too  much,  to  exercise  freedom  in 
preaching -visits  to  different  parts  of  the  Church. 
During  these  years,  his  name,  in  the  great  cities  or  the 
village  meeting-houses,  was  a  gathering  word  which 
brought  crowded  audiences  together,  and  kept  them 
suspended  on  his  lips,  unmindful  how  the  hours  went 
by.  He  was  not  in  general  a  brief  preacher,  for  he 
foraot  himself  in  his  theme,  and  his  audience  was 
subject  to  the  same  oblivion,  till  the  clock  made  its 
round,  and  half-way  into  the  next  circle.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  give  an  idea  of  his  enchaining  power  to 
those  who  have  not  heard  him.  In  a  single  discourse 
the  most  varied  faculties  were  appealed  to — the  under- 
standing, the  fancy,  the  imagination,  the  heart,  and 
the  spirit,  with  sudden  and  quick  appeals  to  the 
conscience,  as  the  discourse  moved  on.  The  prevailing 
quality  in  his  sermons  was  the  imagination,  clear, 
beautiful,  elevated,  with  the  poet's  vision  and  faculty ; 
but  it  was  an  imagination  that  streamed  down  in  rays 
of  reason,  and  thrilled  and  warmed   the  heart   as  it 


246       THE  REV.    W.  B.  ROBERTSON,  D.D. 

moved    above    it.       The    matter    was    vivified    by    a 
remarkable  dramatic  gift  which  enabled  him,  as  he  saw 
the  things  himself,  to  make  others  see  and  feel  them. 
He  was  not  bound  always  to  order, — that  is,  to  mere 
logical   order, — though  in   tliis  lie  varied.     We  have 
heard   some  sermons  with   the   exact  symmetry  of  a 
Grrecian  temple,  others  like  the  Gothic,  where  pillar 
and  statue  and  window  and  climbing  arch  rose,  not 
in  confusion,  but  with  a  law  of  freedom,  and  side-aisles 
and  long  retreats  brought  back  the  step  always  to  the 
central  nave.      Many  of  these  sermons  I  can  recollect, 
either    from   having   heard   them   in   public,   or  from 
havin!^  their   lineaments  rehearsed  in  the  free  inter- 
change  of  thoughts  about  texts,  which  is  one  of  the 
most  delightful  parts  of  ministerial  friendship.     The 
texts    of    some   of   them   show    the   character   of   the 
preacher.      One  I  remember,  on  '  The  rainbow  round 
about   the    throne   like  unto   an   emerald,'   where  the 
glory  of  Christ  was  described  shining  out  in  its  different 
manifestations  with  the  prevailing  hue  of  redemption. 
Another  was  on  '  They  saw  God  and  did  eat  and  drink,' 
in  which  the  plan  was :  Some  eat  and  drink, — indulge 
in  the  joy  of  life, — but  they  do  not  see  God;  others 
see  God,  but  they  do  not  eat  and  drink, — life  is  to 
them  joyless  ;  but  the   Christian  should  see  God,  and 
eat   and    drink.      One,  that   rose   to   a   beatific  vision 
which  the  hearers  could  never  forget,  was  on  '  To  me 
to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain.' 

After  years  of  work  at  Irvine,  his  health  broke  down 


THE  REV.    IV.  B.  ROBERTSON.,  D.D.       247 

from  a  severe  attack  of  inflammation,  and  he  had  a 
struggle  for  life,  through  whicli,  under  God,  he  was 
carried  by  the  skill  of  the  surgeon,  the  watchful  care 
of  sisters,  and  his  own  high  courage.  But  it  left 
permanent  effects  on  his  physical  powers,  though  the 
mental  not  only  remained  unabated,  but  seemed  to 
grow, — to  grow  in  the  best  sense  in  depth  and  mellow- 
ness and  experience.  "When  so  far  recovered,  he  was 
recommended  to  take  up  residence  for  a  time  in  Italy, 
and  for  about  two  years  his  headquarters  were  in 
Florence.  There  were  Christian  friends  there  with 
whom  he  formed  close  associations,  and  he  interested 
himself  in  the  evangelical  work  which  has  a  centre 
in  that  city.  One  side  of  his  character,  which  had 
been  prominent  all  through,  found  here  full  scope. 
He  made  himself  familiar  with  the  Italian  language 
and  literature,  and  there  was  not  a  spot  in  the  city  of 
Giotto  and  Ghiberti,  of  jMichael  Angelo  and  Dante, 
that  was  not  known  to  him  like  a  household  memorial. 
A  walk  tlirough  its  haunts  with  him — I  speak  from 
having  enjoyed  it — opened  up  the  sepulchres  of  the 
dead,  and  made  the  great  artists  walk  forth  to  interpret 
their  own  works.  There  were  two  men  that  specially 
attracted  him,  Savonarola  and  Fra  Angelico,  the 
religious  reformer  and  the  religious  painter ;  and  to 
find  him  wandering  in  the  cloisters  of  San  JMarco,  and 
have  him  as  the  exponent  of  the  history  and  treasures 
connected  witli  these  two  names,  was  a  hope  that  was 
handed  from  visitor  to  visitor.      He  had  the  idea  that 


248        THE  REV.    W.  B.  ROBERTSON,  D.D. 

the  final  conversion  of  Italy  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
must  take  note  of  these  two  men,  and,  avoiding  their 
errors  and  supplementing  their  defects,  must  lead  along 
the  lines  to  which  they  pointed.  He  made  a  minute 
study  of  the  history  of  Savonarola,  consulting  hitherto 
unedited  documents  with  the  hope  of  writing  his  life, 
and  Fra  Angelico  suggested  to  him  a  treatise  on  the 
relations  of  art  to  religion,  of  which,  we  fear,  there  are 
only  some  initial  lectures.  He  returned  from  Italy 
improved  in  health,  but  still  unable  to  undertake  the 
constant  work  of  the  ministry.  He  preached,  hovrever, 
at  intervals  with  all  his  accustomed  power  and  attrac- 
tiveness. He  became  more  widely  known,  especially  in 
England;  and  at  Cambridge,  where  a  station  was 
opened  that  Presbyterian  students  might  enjoy  their 
own  Church  services,  and  where  he  preached  repeatedly 
for  considerable  periods,  the  gatherings  of  graduates 
and  professors  showed  that  there  is  a  way  of  presenting 
the  Gospel  which  makes  it  felt  alike  by  the  descendants 
of  the  old  Scottish  Seceders  and  by  English  University 
literates.  During  this  time  his  chief  residence  was  in 
an  old  mansion  some  miles  from  Edinburgh,  which  he 
had  fitted  up  in  his  own  peculiar  taste,  and  to  which 
he  had  transferred  his  books  bearing  on  his  favourite 
studies,  some  of  them  curious  and  rare,  and  his  si-)olia 
opina  of  art  gathered  in  his  wanderings.  Hither, 
with  his  old  social  tastes,  he  invited,  or  rather  carried, 
his  friends,  and  made  of  it  for  days,  and  too  much 
also  for  nifrhts,  a  Tusculum  for  varied  argument  and 


THE  REV.    W.  B.  ROBERTSON,  D.D.       249 

discourse  on  '  the  true,  the  beautiful,  and  the  good.' 
His  heart  was  always  young  within  him,  and  his  choice 
delight  was  to  surround  himself  with  a  company  of 
the  young,  to  seek  to  form  their  taste  in  art  and  music 
and  literature,  and  to  solve  the  difficulties  that  press 
on  the  present  generation  in  the  field  of  religious  truth. 
The  bright  memory  of  him,  with  its  shadow  of  regret, 
that  will  last  tlirough  long  coming  years,  would  be  a 
fitting  monument  if  he  had  left  no  other.  The  last 
winter,  which  tried  so  many,  was  sore  on  him,  though 
he  bore  up  bravely.  In  the  spring  he  sought  the 
milder  air  of  Bridge  of  Allan,  and  there,  after  alter- 
nations of  hope  and  fear  on  the  part  of  his  friends,  on 
a  Sabbath  afternoon  shortly  after  Midsummer  day,  he 
fell  asleep.  He  lies  among  his  kindred,  at  St.  Ninian's, 
near  to  his  birthplace  and  to  the  church  where  he  sat 
as  a  boy,  to  the  communion  of  which  his  heart  clung 
closely  from  principle  and  affection  all  through  life. 

I  can  only,  before  closing  these  scattered  recollec- 
tions, express  again  the  wish  that  there  may  be  some 
possibility  of  the  world  getting  to  know  at  least  a  portion 
of  what  his  friends  knew  to  be  in  him.  And  yet  the 
greatest  thing  a  man  sometimes  leaves  is  not  a  book, 
but  a  personality.  The  greatest  book  in  the  world  is 
so  great  because  of  the  Personality  that  is  in  it,  and 
thus,  in  their  degree,  with  all  others.  If  we  had  to 
choose  between  a  mere  book  without  a  living  personality 
in  it  and  a  living  personality  without  a  book,  we 
should  prefer  the  last.      It  may  disappear  for  a  time 


2  50       THE  REV.   IV.  B.  ROBERTSON,  D.D. 

in  other  lives,  but  it  has  done  its  work,  and  it  will  live 
and  come  to  light  in  its  results,  on  a  day  when  the 
sun  shall  no  more  go   down.     In   his  gifts,  and  the 
use  he  made  of  them,  he  did  much  to  commend  the 
Gospel  of  Christ.     In  his  residence  at  Florence  he  was 
doing  more   specially  what   he  did   from  his  earliest 
years, — showing  how  an  enthusiasm  for  literature  and 
music  and  art  can  be  conjoined  with  a  love  for  the 
cross  of  Clirist  in  its  purity  and  simplicity, — a  love 
which  he  was  careful  never  to  conceal.     Who  can  tell 
the  effect  of  this  on  many  susceptible  minds,  specially 
among   the    young,   in   such   a   time  as  ours  ?     As   a 
preacher,  he  not  only  influenced  hearers  of  every  class 
in  a  manner  peculiarly  his  own,  but  became  a  creative 
and    formative    jjower    among   the   youthful   ministry 
through  the  ideal  he  gave  of  the  beauty  and  majesty 
of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.     Hearts  were  fired  to  begin 
the  proclamation  of  the  message,  and  to  rise  to  loftier 
conceptions  of  its  dignity  and  far-reaching  import ;  and 
yet  they  were   never  suffered  to  forget  the  apostolic 
glory,  that  it  is  '  the  power  of  God  to  the  salvation  of 
every  one  that  believeth.'     The  angel's  flight  and  the 
winged   words   never   soared   above,    or  were   severed 
from,  the  everlasting  Gospel.     We  may  thank  God  for 
the  help  which  many  young  ministers  received  in  an 
age  when  the  central  truth  is  ready  to  be  clouded,  if 
not  obliterated,  by  the  rolling  in  of  vapours  from  the 
circumferences  of  art  and  literature,  through  one  who 
was  an  acknowledged  master  in  these  departments,  but 


THE  REV.    W.  B.  ROBERTSON,  D.D.        251 

who  held  fast  to  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel,  and  who 
employed  it  to  cast  new  beauty  on  all  surrounding 
things,  without  which,  indeed,  they  are  dim,  empty 
shadows.  In  the  midst  of  his  widest  flights  of 
imagination  and  thought,  he  had  close  to  his  heart  the 
simple,  grand  old  faith  in  which  his  fathers  had  lived 
and  died.  I  feel  as  if  I  liad  said  very  little  of  that 
with  which  my  own  heart  is  filled,  but  this  last  includes 
more  than  all  that  is  omitted — rest,  revival,  restoration, 
better  than  we  knew  him  at  his  brightest.  There  w\as 
a  fulness  of  life,  a  quickening  powder  about  him,  shining 
out  in  his  very  loolc,  which  makes  one  feel,  as  Charles 
Lamb  says  of  a  friend,  the  difficulty  of  thinking  of 
'  the  wormy  bed  and  him  together,'  a  feeling  which 
will  not  let  the  heart  speak  a  final  farewell. 

'  Gone  before 
To  that  unknown  and  silent  shore, 
Shall  we  not  meet  as  heretofore 

Some  summer  morning, 
When  from  thy  cheerful  eyes  a  ray 
liath  struck  a  bliss  upon  the  day, 
A  bliss  that  would  not  go  away, 

A  sweet  forewarning  ? ' 

But  we  have  something  better,  through  Him  who  is 
the  Eesurrection  and  the  Life,  who  can  raise  presenti- 
ments into  assurance,  and  the  highest  visions  of  the 
imagination  into  the  realities  that  heart  cannot  con- 
ceive. He  has  said,  '  Thou  shalt  see  greater  things 
than  these,'  and  '  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also.' — 
Yours  most  truly,  Joiix  Ker. 


Mor.RISOX   AND   GIBB, 
PRINTERS   TO   HER  MAJESTY'S  STATIONERY   OFFICE. 


t 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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MAY 


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DEC  1 6  1585 


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Form  L9-50m-7,'54  15990) 444 


1111 II I  III! 

3  1158  00842  89 


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SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  L1B.RARV  f^fj'  ^Y 


AA    000  393  122    7 


